@Lmpkio
Abigail was getting into her conversation with the bounty hunter. Sure, things weren't moving along as swiftly as humanly possible, but at least they were moving. It was tempting to put some more of her shoulder into getting some momentum, but she never had a chance before things came to a stop. Not only did they stop, they stopped hard. It was like being in a vehicle going hundreds of kilometers per second and then suddenly finding instead of road in front of you, there was a wall, and it wasn't the one that was going to change what it was doing.

Someone was calling Aran. Abigail didn't know who it was until she noted the hologram and overheard what was being said on the other line. Her first reaction was to tell the bounty hunter to blow it off and they'd get some more drinks, but things didn't work out that way. Samus didn't so much as hesitate to head out. She said her farewell, and was out the room in record time.

Frowning, Abigail sighed as she watched the woman in red leave. The only plus side was that it was fun actually watching the woman leave. She had a nice body, and even in the armor it was easy to tell she knew how to move.

"Well that was fun" The redhead mumbled, looking down into her ale before taking a quick sip. She had faith that what every was going on was being blown way out of proportion. The guys at the DMV could handle it. "Besides, I don't have a ship or gate anyways. So I'm stuck here." Smiling, She leaned back in he, intent on enjoying the rest of her night. This state of relaxation lasted an entire couple of minutes before the entire bar started trembling like a teenager, caught in his girlfriend's bed, by her father who was aiming a shotgun at his crotch.

"Mmmm" Abigail muttered, opening a single eye to watch things bounce, and glasses explode after falling off the counter. "What's this now?" She didn't have to wait long before a booming voice, explained what it was doing there and demanded she get up there right, quick and in a hurry. "Bugger." She sighed before getting to her feet, and paying her tab. "There's just no rest for the wicked anymore, is there?"
*****
On the the ship, the curvy redhead with a sheathed blade appears on the starboard of the ship, and walks up to the monstrous turtle entity without any apparent fear or hesitation. "Okay. I'm here. I'm here. Bowser so you can calm down now." She grumbled as she stepped up to the leader of the Koopa army. "So can we go and get this over with?" She paused for a moment, frowning so deep the corners of her mouth were in danger of falling of her chin. "And," she slurred "I'm not a drunk. I'm a passionate drinker who gets carried away occasionally."

Space is a void non-conducive to independent thought or philosophy. It is a sea in standstill without the comforts of mundanity, like gravity or sensory pleasures -- caressing winds and salt spray-type feeling removed in place of sight. No sound, no ability to reach out and touch the surrounding twinkle; a sight-seeing tour of the distant and impossible. It is an immersive sort of boredom, then, to travel straight through space. One where the eyes glaze over the sameness and the brain empties -- in non-figments, from lack of oxygen, but for those with optional anatomy, it was only a matter of that sameness. It was an infinite journey, and eventually your identity mouldered and you entered something akin to a dream. And it was all preferred to the lonely, dreaming vagrant, far from home; immersed in it.

It is easy to forget the dangers of nullity when you yourself are feeling none so acute. The space rock hits his shuttle, the force popping it like a balloon, and in a shower of sparkles, the vagrant is carried -- "Hnng-ahh!"-- off his course and in an unintended direction.

Sasaki sat down and closed his eyes in the pilots cabin as he felt the familiar semi-weightlessness that characterized a Jump, the short moment that didn't even last long enough to lift you out of your seat but still made your stomach turn that was especially noticeable on smaller vessels. Normally jumps weren't made in quick succession for comforts sake, so passengers were allowed some time reorient and prepare for the next one. This, however, was an emergency and Sasaki had insisted on speed so it wasn't even a moment later that he felt the second one. He counted them in is head.

"Until we have established what sort of emergency we're facing," he said aloud as he felt jump four try its level best to turn his stomach, "or receive orders otherwise I'll defer to your judgement, Mami, in light of your seniority." Jump ten forced its way past them and elbowed him in the gut. "However, if we should come across a strong enemy I ask that you leave them to me." As jump sixteen blasted past he wondered if he would be able to weather them more stoically were he in top form. "And if you need some place held against attack, feel free to leave me behind and I swear that none will find their way past me." He felt a strange apprehension at that moment that had nothing to do with jump twenty-three, just the inkling of a feeling at the idea of defending an area for this witch, that he could not place. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity in a storming sea, he felt jump twenty-seven and climbed to his feet. A muffled gag from the pilot drew his attention out the cockpit window.

"How disgusting." He said, looking out across the darkness of space. One entire side of the station not only looked as though it were alive but suffering from some horrible pox. Large tendrils of putrid brown flesh burrowed their way into the side, throwing up metal and skin and what passed for blood in a debris cloud that was slowly forming in orbit around the station. Ships were departing from every available dock as people fled the station before the disease managed to choke all the life from it. Even from here, however, he could still feel the uncomfortable hum of the reality emitters pushing against him. "Whatever that is it's no magecraft." he said smugly. "That thing is completely natural. Or at least, considered less an aberration than the two of us."

@Grnmachine]

Mami's stomach lurched. Despite her combat prowess, she was still only fourteen. Her body suffered from space sickness just like everyone else. And right now, Curses were in short supply- she only had ten, good for about two restorations of her Soul Gem. Using magic to keep her from getting a little dizzy and nauseous before a potential fight would be unwise.

Mami managed to bear her discomfort so that she didn't show weakness to Sasaki. To him she seemed as calm as ever. His mind immedietly went to battle. He made it clear that Mami were to take the lead on this mission. Sasaki further extrapolated on this, almost outright saying that he was willing to be a pawn for her.

"I appreciate your generosity and dedication," she said. "But I would prefer if you used your own judgment. I'm much more used to fighting alone, and occasionally rescuing someone. For now, just stick by me, and if we get into a fight, asses the situation yourself." Mami said this all stoically, not letting Sasaki see that she was getting increasingly nauseous as the jumps continued.

As the final jump finished, something truly disgusting appeared through the windows. It was Union Station... but it's almost as if it were infected by something. Sasaki concluded that it was purely organic, and not magical or mechanical. "But what.... thing, organic or no, could cause this type of destruction in such a short period?"

Mami observed a small fleet of escape pods and other craft leaving Union Station. She entered the cockpit, and caught a fowl stench of the pilot's vomit. She gagged for a moment, before instructing the man to dock as soon as was possible.

"Prepare yourself. I have no idea what that is, or what it's capable of." Mami stood by the boarding hatch, signalling Sasaki over. Her body glowed yellow for a split second, and her attire changed from a simple school outfit to her Magical Girl form. The door hissed as the docking was complete, and it began opening. Mami stood there, prepared for the worst to jump out at her.

Union Station: 27 Jumps from Alpha Earth. Resides in the UUC/UoD DMZ.

Union Station, once a shining gem was now a growing boil admits the lifeless vacuum of space. Tendrils began to wrap themselves around the station, almost as if strangling it. – It had only been a few hours since the original infestation comet struck and already over fifty percent of station had been corrupted by its taint. And now, it was worse.
Nearby ships that ventured too close or attempted to aid in evacuation efforts were finding themselves being boarded by the same monstrosities that had begun the attack. Soon many smaller ships had fallen under the command of the Vanguard and its Flood army.

---

Attention all UUC personnel. This is High-Command Ethereal Dai’meri. The situation at Union Stations is grave. Little intelligence has risen from the event. However, it is clear that there seems to be a Level 4 Parasite Form. These creatures were able to bypass the Reality Field, meaning that they are biological constructs rather than magical. Your top priority is to rescue Ethereal Raz’ Zek above all else, as well as containing this outbreak. Our expert on the matter will be arriving in system shortly to aid in these efforts.
Class-A Magical Restrictions are now lifted in this crisis. Use professional judgement when using magical. Civilian casualties are acceptable to prevent further outbreak.

-END TRANSMISSION-

---

Right, listen up you useless pieces of Bantha Poodoo. The situation at Union Station is this. There’s bugs, or zombies, or zombie-bugs. Doesn’t matter, these guys are scary and will f- you up, so make sure you don’t become their midnight snack. We’ve got to get Senator Simms out of there before the UUC decide to go all nukey nukey on it. Which I can’t blame ‘em but not while our fair lady is in there, got it?! Good news is that they won’t do that until their stiff is out first.
Oh, and watch out for any of our other guys who might need a hand. No one deserves to go out like this.

-END TRANSMISSION-

"Good Heavens!"

The co-pilot exclaimed as they approached the station from their last jump. What greeted them was a sight that wouldn't be out of place from a space horror game. A fleshy growth has grown from the station, with it's tendrils slowly inching forward with clear intent on consuming everything in it's wake.

"We're landing on the lower docks, opposite of that damned thing"

The pilot said as they weaved low and left towards one of the long pier like extensions on the station. Around them, other space vessels of different shapes and sizes were weaving their own path through the chaos. Occasional near misses punctuating the short and tense trip down to the docks. The old transport decelerated and landed at one of the docking modules and as soon as they stopped moving, Chris unbuckled herself from her seat and started heading for the airlock.

"Where are you going?"

The pilot exclaimed as he fumbled with his own harness.

"To help people!"

Chris didn't bother to look back as she impatiently waited for the transports airlock to finish it's opening cycle. The old pilot merely sighed in understanding before replying.

"Be careful."

At this, Chris did look back at the cockpit. There the old man and his colleague was smiling at her, with the younger one even giving her a thumbs up.

She went to work the moment the airlock opened.

"Over here!"

She called out to the people and... others...

Chris was taken slightly by surprise at the myriad of different species that now rushed towards the empty transport. She arrived in this universe on an entirely human populated planet, and it didn't occur to her, until now that there may be other intelligent species out there...

'Guhh! Stay focused!'

She said to herself to get her attention back on the situation at hand. The transport could hold 200 people seating, and about three times that if you didn't have to bother with the luxury of having personal space as well as to make use of the cargo hold. The problem was that the design of this old transport only had four airlocks for boarding passengers, And half of that was on the spaceward side of the dock so getting it to capacity would take a while.

'Tsk!... I need to buy them some time!'

Chris said to herself as she forced her way against the flow. Getting herself to the main body of the station was slow going since practically everyone was heading the opposite direction in the narrow enclosed pier. On about a third of the way towards the station she came across a service airlock on the side of the path, too small for ships to dock onto but large enough to let people out for maintenance tasks. It was still a long way to go, and it would probably take her a good hour if she was to go against the flow of people heading to the transports (plural now because more ships have joined in and docked to evacuate people). So there was only one solution that Chris would think of in a situation like this...

Missile Surfing

Samus Aran's mission was clear according to the broadcast. The UUC needs to reach the Union Station and rescue Ethereal Raz’ Zek from the enemy forces. Yet this threat didn't come from the Union of Despair, rather an unidentified parasitic race classified as a Level 4. This certainly means that they were dangerous, yet the bounty hunter has encountered similar creatures before. The Parasite Queen she fought on the Frigate Orpheon was genetically modified by the Space Pirates with Phazon, yet was fairly easy to defeat. But she wasn't the worst of the bunch she'd encountered on her missions. That pesky X-Parasite she faced was able to latch onto her and mutate her suit into the "Fusion Suit" when she was on her second trip to SR-388...

The same location where she exterminated all the Metroids, save for one, which unknowingly to her at the time actually kept the parasites from expanding on said planet.

Samus still has heavy regret over that mission to this day, and indeed it has made her more conscious about the different environments on the various planets she visits in her travels. But this mission is different. These parasites caused nothing but chaos, spreading around the entire galaxy releasing their spores and mutating any living organism to become its loyal minions, or however they go about their ways. By all means they weren't seemingly beneficial to anyone but themselves. It's time to put this reign of meaningless terror to an end... and she'll not be regretting this decision anytime soon.

But first, they must save the VIP.



As her ship warps into Union Space, Samus sees a chaotic and messy battlefield, with the entire station covered in a giant organic mass of alien flesh. This parasite lifeform has already overrun the entire station, encapsulating it with its large grotesque tentacles and unleashing a horde of monstrosities on innocent lives. The bounty hunter needs to get inside fast and get out even faster. The faster she can speed run through, the less problems she will encounter. Of course, there are allies coming in to help so if she's somehow unable to get to the Ethereal, hopefully the allies will be more successful.

As she gets closer to the station, her ship manages to find an empty hanger that has not been contaminated by the parasites yet. This will be the perfect location to land and make a quick getaway, provided the parasites don't get there first. She also detects a nearby transport ship that is helping the civilians evacuate, presumably from the help of one of the UUC members. Unfortunately, Samus' gunship is rather small compared to the ship, with very limited room to fit a max of say 20 civilians. And that's if she's lucky and has everything cleared up. But it certainly has enough room to fit the VIP and a couple of his friends/guards.



The bounty hunter quickly positions her ship to land in the hanger bay, using the help of auto-pilot as she prepares to go in. Once it lands, Samus slowly rises out of the roof's hatch, revealing the orange-tinted suit and a green visor of badass armor. After inspecting her cannon one last time, she drops down with a metallic cland and heads out of the hangar bay and into the depths of the station.

The hunt was on.

---

As soon as the redhead boarded his airship, King Koopa and the rest of the airships ascends away from the pub and back to the rest of the fleet. Amongst the surprisingly large fleet, was it's Capital Ship, a large metallic ship known simply as the Koopa Cruiser. Once the ships reunited, they began preparing for a jump to the Union Station, with Bowser and Abigail boarding the main cruiser.

As Bowser oversees the preparations of the fleet from the Koopa Cruiser's Starboard, Abigail appears fearlessly behind the Koopa King with a sheathed blade, ready for the battle that lies ahead.

"Okay. I'm here. I'm here, Bowser so you can calm down now." She grumbles as she stops behind him, "So can we go and get this over with?"

A deeply annoyed growl emits from his mouth as Bowser turns his head at the redhead, while the rest of his body continues facing the fleet.

"Hey! You better watch your tone, you drunken brat!" bites back the massive turtle as he finally faces her completely, "I know you're drunk and all, but that's no excuse to be so yippy when facing a King! So get your marbles together and listen, you hear?!"

The redhead's frown seemed to become even more prominent as she begins to explains herself.

"And," she slurrs, "I'm not a drunk. I'm a passionate drinker who gets carried away occasionally."

This pisses off Bowser even more as he issues another distraught sigh, yet he manages to restrain himself from yelling at her again as he simply faces starboard again. This is exactly why he doesn't work well with others...

"Hmph. Whatever makes you sleep better at night..." he growls before explaining what's going on, "ANYWAYS... As I was saying, we got a transmission from the Boss, mentioning a major attack on the Union Station. Apparently some 'zombie-bugs' decided it would be a nice place to call home or something and we need to save some Senator named Simms and get outta there before the UCC decides to nuke the place or somethin'. Also mentioned something about helpin' people, but whatever."

He fully turns to his only audience member again.

"Speakin' of helping," he continues, "My son, Junior, is also partaking in this battle by picking up the rest of the Koopa Kids inside the Station. They've been locked up recently after getting caught in a stealth mission and he's gonna free them. He should be able to manage it all by himself, BUT if he wants you to help, YOU help! If I hear from him that you disobeyed his direct orders, or if he gets hurt because of your uncooperation..."

His face began to distort into a menacing grimace.

"YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME."

His face reverts back to normal as he takes a deep breath to calm himself. Just then a red-shelled Koopa, with wings and a helmet, flies in as he flutters in front of him.

"Lord Bowser! Preparations for the jump are now complete!" he announces briefly while saluting.

Bowser's face brightens up slightly as he gives a simple nod.

"Then what are you waiting for, Corporal Paraplonk?!" he asks as he punches his fists together, "Rev up those engines and lets move out!"

He then looks back at Abigail again as he prepares to enter the captain's cabin.

"Look, all i'm saying is just follow our orders, don't give my son a hard time, and you'll be fine, ok?" he finishes calmly as he leaves towards the cabin.



As Bowser's fleet enters the Union Station air space, most of the main airships begin to circle the space station while a wave of airships approach it while dodging enemy fire. Amongst them was the fiery Bowser Jr, who quickly manages to land in the nearest hanger along with the rest of the first wave. As soon as they land, they begin unloading the troops. Amongst them were notable commanders like those of the Elite Trio, which include Private Goomp, the recently seen Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy. Each swiftly organized the troops and made their own separate squad as Bowser Jr quickly appears on the frontlines.

"Alright you chumps! Listen up!" he announces as he first points to the airships, "You guys! Stay here until I return!" He then faces the Elite Trio, "You three! You're gonna help me out get back the kids. Sergeant Guy, your ranged squad is with me. Corpral Paraplonk, you and your arial group are gonna scout out this sector and report back to me or Private Goomp, who's melee squad is gonna protect the airships from the parasite invaders. Once I come back, we're gonna get outta here quick with the koopalings! If any of the parasites get too close, call Kamek to hold them off until I return! Any questions?!"

There was no response other then the thunder stomps and salutes towards Junior.

"Okee Dokey!" he nods satisfyingly as he opens the hangar door, "Let's move out!"

But before he himself can move out, he sees a single large ship entering the same hangar bay where his forces are in.

(If Abigail is present, she will be instructed to come with Bowser Jr. If not, ignore this message)

---

"Lord Vader?" Captain Piett calls cautiously as he slowly enters the dark lord's meditation room and stands patiently while looking at a large black sphere in the middle of the room.

That sphere begins to slowly open, revealing Darth Vader as his seat slowly turns to face the captain, his breathing echoing loudly throughout the entire room.

"What is it, Captain?" he asks bluntly.

"We've just received a message from the UoD," he explains, "It released an Alpha-Level distress call regarding an attack of the Union Station barely over a minute ago. The invaders can only be described as, and I quote, 'scary zombie-bugs', and we've been requested to partake in the evacuation and rescue of Senator Sinns."

"It does not concern me." he answers bluntly, almost without second thought.

The Captain paused as he gives a rather confused look, blinking rapidly with a stutter before continuing.

"M-My lord? With all do respect, the~"

"What did the Emperor say regarding the matter?" he interrupts as his breathing grew louder for a second.

There was a mere pause, followed by an unwilling stammer.

"As far as I'm concerned~" Piett begins to answer, but wouldn't need to continue more as Vader knows the answer.

"Unless the Emperor expects my presence there," he responds boldly as he reminds him of his faithful obedience to his master, "Then I am not needed. The fleet shall remain its course to Udakar, where the surviving forces had fled. You will oversee preparations to jump and ready the fleet to crush the Resistance in the sector. You are dismissed."

And without another word, the meditation chamber closes and there was silence. As Vader begins to take off his mask again and enjoy his relaxation some more, he suddenly is rudely interrupted by a familiar voice echoing through his head just seconds later.

"Lorrrrrd Vader." Palpatine telepathically calls to Vader from deep within his dark mind with an old and scraggily voice, "I have a new assignment for you..."



Vader's Death Squadron jumps to Union space, where the Executor lurks within several hundred miles of firing range within the base. He had just heard about Bowser's fleet having just arrived merely seconds later, already sending in a wave of his troops to board the Station. As he stares from the Executor's bridge, he notices the disturbing matter of organic flesh engulf the space station. Yet the dark lord takes little worry of this threat. He has already created a plan for the battle at hand.

As the first Sentinel-Class Landing Craft boards the Union Station, it begins to unload a total of roughly 55 stormtroopers from the 501 legion, with 30 regular stormtroopers (including a Field Commander), 20 flamethrower troopers, and 5 Elite Death Troopers ready for battle. As they marched into the station, Bowser Jr flies to the field commander while in his Koopa Clown Car looking rather cross.

"Hey! Stop stealing my thunder!" he complains loudly while throwing his fist in the air, "What are you guys doing?"

"Same thing as you guys." the commander blatantly states, "We're also instructed to join forces with your group and make sure to keep the parasites at bay."

"Papa didn't tell me that!" the bratty koopa kid responds confusingly.

"It was a last minute order." explains the stormtrooper bluntly, "However, we've brought you some assistance. We'll be mostly using flametroopers to help clear the way to the senator. According to an assumption, fire is something these parasites are weak to."

"I'm only here to rescue my brethren," Junior states clearly to the commander, "Not some boring political puppet!"

At that point, a sudden point of realization entered Junior's mind like a lightbulb.

"Wait a second, you said something about fire being their weakness right? I can breathe fire too!" he mentions excitingly with a devilish smirk, "Juuuuust like my father before me, hee hee hee!"

The commander sighs as he begins to join up with the rest of the troops.

"Whatever you say..." he sighs annoyingly while rolling his eyes underneath his helmet as he orders his troops to move out towards the Senator, while Junior's troops go straight to the Koopa Kids.

Union Station, Service Corridor

Screams of both the living and the dead echoed throughout the entire station. Evacuation ships came ant went as if a marching hoard of ants. Both UUC and UoD forces trying their best to slow the progression of the rising tide of Flood. – Their only success was in slowing them down. An automated voice called over the loudspeakers, announcing evac-routes and sectors of the station that were now sealed in hopes of stopping the Flood from spreading out further.

“We have to overload the station’s sol-drive.” The Ethereal said, blasting two pure forms into molten biomatter with his raised arm and the other casting a protective barrier over Senator Simms who looked up in disbelieve at the suggestion.

“If we do that, our symbol of hope will be destroyed.” She protested, standing back to her feet and looking at the wake of destruction left by the Ethereal behind them.

“If we do not, our symbol will become one of carnage and plague. We can rebuild it.” Raz’ Zek said, his helmet scanning for any other hostiles down the narrow corridor. Without word, he began to move forward cautiously, Simms followed.

---

Mortal fools…. Why resist the Song of the Grave? Join us in everlasting melody. Rejoice in the rebirth of the Flood.

Abigail watched the entirety of the mobilization of the storm tooper, and Koopa army forced without much interests. It was all a joke in her eyes. The massive forces that the Union Station had in its disposal weren't a match for whatever it was that was causing all the problems so she didn't see how the people before her would do much better. If anything, it just meant more casualties of war. Though, as much as she hated to admit it there was a use for big numbers, and it had nothing to do with any kind of forceful supremacy. The way she saw it, if everything went to hell like she was assuming it was, then at the very least whatever was causing all the problems would have to go crawl over the dead soldiers to get to her.

A voice came on the intercom, talking about overloading the sol-drive, which was a big deal, and immediately made Abigail second guess being there at all, but it wasn't like she had a ride of her own handy. So, for the time being she'd need to make sure everyone got a move on before the whole ship went down with her, and them, on it.

Abigail sighed before putting her fingers to her mouth and letting out a loud whistle. "Great. Great! So you're all very impressive with what you do, but it looks like whatever is going on is getting really serious. So I say we got a move on and find that diplomat before we're all unceremoniously made captains and have to go down with a ship." Before anyone could say anything she turned towards the bay door and slammed her fist on the open button.

The service airlock was placed conveniently for the wandering and those vying to enter amidst chaos when they could. This included jaundiced, parasitic, creatures who crossed the earth on tentacles tapering into feathery red feelers. This included, too, the vagrant, who had no apparent reason to interrupt other than being at their receiving end.

Currently, there was a struggle, or had been-- in an instant: the vagrant disgorged the remains of one foe with such projection, it eviscerated two others. Then he turned to another which had crept up behind him and took to smashing it with his foot, its soft body giving a delicious squelch-- then, yet another fell on top of him. As if a cover had been pulled over the vagrant's eyes; and then he was engulfed again, and again; he was under a mound of soft, squelching bodies fallen from above. They enveloped him with their smothering tendrils as if to not augment the muffled cacophony outside with his cries for help.

@Grnmachine

The door had only just begun opening when the assault began. Almost as though they had been waiting for this small, fleshy polyps skittering around on tendrils pressed themselves into the crack, their bodies deforming as they squeezed their way into the ship. Behind this vanguard a flood of others waited their turn, ready to push inside as soon as the door opened enough to fit them.

Time slowed down for him as he stepped back even as the first of the little abominations leaped at him. Not out of fear or worry about what these creatures could do for him, but because he needed the space. His eyes rapidly flicked around the all to cramped confines of the spacecraft, searching for paths he could use, tracing lines in the air where he could swing his sword while avoiding cutting Mami Tomeo or the ship they'd flown in on to ribbons that also bisected the monster. It was difficult. This ship was meant to ferry passengers for short distances. It was built for people to get on and get off. Built for efficiency instead of comfort. The sheer length of his blade meant there were only a few paths it could take in his enclosed space without damaging the ship. He mentally readjusted, looking only for the things the ship needed to fly. That opened things up considerably. He could destroy everything else provided he didn't bisect the hull. He traced lines through each of the attacking monsters that hand made it into the ship and swung.

Sasaki counter attack was like a hurricane, his blade falling like pouring rain too fast for a normal person to even comprehend, but each one was a deliberate and precise strike. The monsters leaped in and were bisected, leaped in and were bisected, leaping, leaping, leaping toward only doom. The only time any of them were given the courtesy of a second blow was when its corpse shared the path his blade must take with one of its still living comrades. Around them the seats and handhold were were torn to ribbons, useless chunks of metal and plastic being splattered in mid-air with the sickly excuse for what the abominations had for blood. Mami felt that merciless blade streak past her on its flowing arcs through the air, sometimes only millimeters away, but never felt its bite.

The poor pilot slammed the door to the cockpit and cried.

"I think that's enough, Sasaki." Mami Tomoe said. The creatures had all been slaughtered, all that were willing to come near, anyways. "I don't want you to waste your magic too much." She stepped forward over the dead bodies, cautiously, expecting attack at any moment. It appears, however, that all the creatures nearby had decided to attack, and all of them cut down.

Mami then got a notification on her phone. She took a few moments to look around before taking out her device and reading the message- It spoke that these creatures were a level 4 biological parasite, and that the first priority was to rescue an ethereal on the station. "We have someone to rescue." She told Sasaki. "We'd best get moving, and quickly. But before that," Mami summoned a small ribbon and tied it tightly onto the door of the ship. "I'll keep track of this, so we don't get lost."

Mami's ribbon remained taught as she walked, getting longer with every step she made. Her pace quickened as she began searching the corridors. The parasite form had taken over most of the insides of the station already, which made maneuvering difficult. And for some reason, this kind of searching felt familiar, even though she'd never experienced something like this in her life.

The Magical Girl turned a corner to find a large number of the creatures around a small area. They noticed her, and attacked.

Quickly Mami summoned two muskets. She used them first to bash one incoming creature, and then fired upon two more. She discarded the empty guns and summoned another, bashing down two more before she could fire it. The holes created in the walls then created more ribbons, increases as Mami continued to fight. Eventually the ribbons were enough to form a barricade in the hallway, keeping any more at bay. Mami used the moment to create one last musket, and began channeling power into it. As she did, it grew larger and larger, until the point where it needed stilts to be aimed properly. This wasn't a musket anymore. This was a cannon.

"Tiro, Finale!"

The whistle that the bullet made echoed throughout the nearby corridors as it destroyed the barrier that Mami had created, and all of the parasites congregating behind it. Once silence came about, a voice was heard further down the hall. "...Mami?"

"Homura!?" She called out, and ran forward. It was Homura- battered and bruised a little, but in good shape, and holding a pistol. "What happened? How did you get hurt?"

"I can't use my powers continuously, they managed to get a few cheap shots in. But i'll manage." She said, wincing.

"Head back to our ship. Follow my ribbon. Wait there until we get back, alright?" Mami insisted.

"Okay. Thanks." She waved at Mami a goodbye, and she set out in the opposite direction of Mami.

As Samus runs deeper into the space station, she begins to see more of the Flood creeping from the solid metal hull. She tries to ignore the smaller patches seeping in, knowing it would be a waste of time to blast everything she comes across. Her helmet also happens blocks out the highly contagious spores that would threaten to control her if they happened to get into her system, and although she is doesn't necessarily know it regarding the Flood, her experiences with other parasitic lifeforms give her a good bet that she's safe from them. Soon she encounters the first major enemy units, taking the form of spider-like critters and grotesque humanoid abominations walking towards her like zombies. These enemies were no match for the bounty hunter though, as her plasma weapons made short work of them with her power beam. Weak as it may be towards stronger opponents, it's still an energy-saving weapon when going up against these weaker, less-dangerous opponents.

Suddenly, she hears something over the intercom. She heard not the sound of the robotic automatic protocols telling everyone to evacuate... but of two persons. They mentioned something about overloading the station’s sol-drive. This automatically clicked in Samus, recognizing without a second thought that the only way to stop the flood from taking over the station is to blow it up completely. This isn't new to her. After all, she escaped countless self-destructing stations and managed to barely escape their destruction with each time. Yet before that can be accomplished, they needed to rescue the Ethereal. Can the rest of the allied forces be trusted in retrieving the mission successfully while Samus goes to destroy the core? Or must she go along with the original mission before considering blowing up the station?

Yet before she can make her mind, Samus hears a cry for help coming from one of the nearby rooms. The bounty hunter immediately enters the room where the cries were coming from, only to see a swarm of those crab-like flood engulfing something in the middle. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, only being able to see flashes of pink peaking from the swarm. She needs to set the victim free, yet in order to not risk damaging the specimen, there was one beam that was perfect for the job. Samus changes her power beam into its ice beam form and fires away at the swarm engulfing the victim inside. This should allow the character underneath easily escape from the swarm threatening to engulf it. The feral flood shriek in surprise and pain for only a milisecond before being encapsulated in ice, the survivors fleeing back into the ship's hull in an attempt to conquer easier sections of the ship.

---

As Bowser Jr prepares his troops to move out, he and the stormtroopers hear a loud whistle emitting from Abigail nearby.

"Great. Great! So you're all very impressive with what you do, but it looks like whatever is going on is getting really serious. So I say we got a move on and find that diplomat before we're all unceremoniously made captains and have to go down with a ship."

She then turns to the bay door and smashes the emergency opening button, leaving that section of the ship open.

Bowser Jr growls at the redheaded lady, the same one who seemed to give his papa a hard time earlier... or so he heard anyways. He flies his koopa copter towards her with a scowl plastered on his face.

"Hey! I'm the commander that gives the orders around here!" outbursts Junior loudly as he points to her aggressively, "You don't tell us what to do! I'm here to rescue my siblings and that's all! If you want to do what you do with these bucket heads, then fine by me, do whatever you want if they let you! Just don't get in my way, ya hear?! Good!"

With that, Junior storms out of hangar bay and goes out the opposite door leading to where the prison cells are located. The faster he can free the koopalings, the faster he can get out of here.

He pays no attention to the conversation on the intercoms.

---

As the Stormtrooper Captain prepares his troops to move out, he and Bowser Jr's minions hear a loud whistle emitting from Abigail nearby.

"Great. Great! So you're all very impressive with what you do, but it looks like whatever is going on is getting really serious. So I say we got a move on and find that diplomat before we're all unceremoniously made captains and have to go down with a ship."

She then turns to the bay door and smashes the emergency opening button, leaving that section of the ship open.

This caused Bowser Junior to go into a fit, scolding Abigail as he tries to put her in her place before storming off to the other direction. The stormtrooper field commander shakes his head nonchalantly. What kind of mutant does that turtle freak thinks he is? Regardless, it was pointless to get into any argument with them. It looks like they're going about their own agenda and as long as they don't interfere with the actual mission, they should be fine. After ordering his troops to get into group formation, he boldly approaches the redhead with military-esque precautions.

"Ahhh forget that brat." he says to her, "I don't know who he thinks he is, but pay no attention to him. You want to save the senator yeah? Then I agree. We should move. But first, let me tell you about our plan to get there."

He then points to his men quickly before continuing.

"Allow the first wave of flametroopers to head in to burn a clean path through the parasites. The rest of my men will go next and remain in the middle, with the other flamers guarding the back. This way we'll be ready to burn any opposition from both sides. Death Squad will remain here as guards and as back up. We roughly know where the Senator is so if we can get to her quickly, we'll pull out and allow the star destroyers to get into firing range and blow this station up, unless someone decides to blow up the station's core. Our ships will be in range within forty minutes, so we don't have much time. Now that you and I are on the same page, let's move."

With that, the stormtroopers begin to march towards the rough location of where the senator may be located. They need to act quick before the flood can override the station, or if someone decides to blow up the station in the first place. The clock was ticking and they needed to move or die.

The desperate cry had evanesced and died within the tight covet sandwiched between sealed doors. Fortunately, the pile-on had itself began to die. An liquid crept, near-invisible past the mass of alien lifeforms, along the floor. The ones that lived, scattered.

In a flash, the vagrant, newly-exposed, struggled to stuff a writhing mass down its throat. A barrel flashed, and he looked up into the blast.


What a wonderful, spontaneous adventure this had proven to be. Kirby himself had a stifled memory, but in his short-term were fast-fading memories entailing clones and brawls and apples and such. Something he had no responsibility to remember, nor intention to engage in. But the universe at large apparently needed Kirby more than Pop Star did, and he found himself sucked into a maelstrom of rejected content, spat out into what appeared to be intergalactic strife: the inevitable result of betraying continuity. He might have been presumptive in his attempt, but it was hard for Kirby to really gauge himself; he wasn't a fan of introspection. Yet, doing anything else was rendered difficult when the superstar found himself incapacitated like a round, rosy-cheeked ice cube. There was nothing more humiliating.

"Po... yu..." He resigned and hoped the predicament might solve itself.

Union Station Space, UCC Entry Point

Amidst the chaos and confusion of ships jumping to warp, light-speed and every other form of FTL travel at their disposal a large, streamline ship jumped into the UCC’s Station entry point. The ship, about 3,000 metres in length glided through the turmoil that surrounded it as if it did not exist. Flood spores that attempted to board it were vaporised by blue energy deck guns that fired with great precision and prejudice.

A long-range broadcast which was mainly intended for UUC forces blurted out.

“It seems that your expert on this parasite which we now know to be the Flood is now in system and is in command of this operation.”
There was a moment of silence as another, more synthetic voice spoke.

“Greetings, I am Five-Four-Three-Nine Ascendant Retribution. Monitor of Installation 00-D.”

@Lmpkio
Without passion, Abigail watched the miniature demon turtle hurry off towards the cells where his siblings were likely being held. The little guy seemed more frustrated about the change in his plans than she had anticipated, but with his forces and the fact that whatever was going on wasn't likely to be able to pierce his thick hide, she was sure he'd be okay. It was the goomba forces he controlled she was... not exactly worried about, but less certain they'd make it out alive.

With a shrug, she turned her attention back to the man in charge of the imperial forces. As he spoke she noted a smugness about him she wasn't a fan of, but she decided to let it past, as the circumstances weren't right for a personal vandetta. Besides, she was going to, in all likely hood, need a ride when everything was over, and the man was her best bet. So with a smile, and bow of her head, she stepped aside to allow the infantry with flamethrowers to go by, into the room, where the target as well as the monsters waited.

Abigail, walking behind the storm troopers with flame throwers, entered a large tunnel, with high ceilings. There were various posters on the walls, with pictures of things everyone should want. Even in space, where nobody could hear you scream, everyone wanted to shuck their wares. Occasionally, off in the distance, a terrified scream could be heard, but that was rare as most sounds were drowned out by the various weapon fire, which seemed to come through the vents almost as much as the actual air.

The sounds were distracting at first, but with a little bit of effort she was able to drawn them out. What she couldn't turn off was her sense of haki that covered a 45 meter radius from where she was standing. It was this that unnerved her. She could feel hostile life flowing from nearly every direction. Most of it was gathered around other living personal. She could also feel the feelings and intents. From the strange creatures all she could feel was anger and hunger like a zombie plague, and every other life form near them radiated almost nothing but complete terror.

They were close to, wherever they were. She could feel them scurrying along the walls, ceiling above them and even under their feet, and all they felt was hunger. Then, she noticed something else slip into her radar just as the lights began flickering. "They're coming" The woman in red, said with a surprising calm as she was no stranger to battle and preferred it over the cat and mouse game. "And they're hungry" Just as she spoke several large, green and brown entities, shaped like men that belonged in another world, rushed around a corner, raising hands with long, brutal tendrils, to bear down the storm troopers at the lead.

"Those aren't the problem" Abigail's eyes moved towards the vent openings which ran along the halls. There were loud pops from the vents on both sides of the advancing party. Green mist sprayed from the vents, which were only capable of holding on for a few more seconds before a tide of green, and brown bulbous creatures starting pouring out. These are the problems Abigail said as she drew her blade, which promptly turned the color of obsidian.

With the song in her heart, and the Ichaival around her, Yukine Chris exists the airlock and starts surfing one of her missiles. With the long telltale trails of rocket motor exhausts following her arcing path up the station from the lower docks from which the old transport landed. Though getting up here was one thing, what to do was another. A quick plan was needed, And Chris can do quick impromptu plans decently well.

The lower docks were safe, for the moment, as the infestation has not quite reached down far enough to threaten the area. However, it's not likely to stay that way.

"Shit... How the hell do I even slow this thing down?"

She thought and grimaced through a small pause in her song. She figures that a place like this would have some security forces fighting somewhere on the station, and since she knows not how to even begin to navigate through the place, it should be better for her to just help whoever is fighting back, wherever it may be... So she deftly steered the missile onto a flesh growth coming from one of the many projections on the station causing it's destruction while coasting towards another service airlock higher up on the station, using the thrusters scattered around her gear for propulsion and steering.

As she closes the airlock behind her. She's greeted with... an empty corridor. It seems like everyone on this area has either been eaten alive and infested, or evacuated... Her stomach turned at the idea of the former, and sincerely wished the latter to be the case. She stopped singing for a moment and tuned out the music from Ichaival with her noise canceling headphones. Amidst the ambient noise of some damaged electronics, and the steady hum of electrical equipment and the ventilation, she could hear a sound that's unmistakable to her, a sound that so terrorized her in the past, and now a sound that is as much a part of herself as her song is. But however she feels about the sound, the sound of gunfire did give her one thing she needed, directions. Gunfire is the sound of fighting, and it's pretty obvious which side of the gunfire she'd like to help. And so she resumed singing, and she ran...

Quickly however she notices something odd about the gunfire, it wasn't the staccato of heavy machine guns, nor the distinct blasts and pops of semiautomatic weapons, but a more subdued thump. It sounds heavy, carrying impact and the rate at which they occur was random instead of constant. These were the sounds of guns unlike what Chris has been used to. But she couldn't stop to ponder about the uniqueness of it as a veritable wall of fleshy THINGS blocked her path.

And at that moment her song became the dirge that shall clear the way to a new path... a new path to where she needs to be that is... Her arm guards first transformed themselves into her usual crossbows, but immediately turned into...



Dakka standard... Her own Gatling's noises drowned out any hints of the gunfire from earlier, and with that she also drowned out the enemies in front of her with a fusillade of gunfire. Against enemies like these, there was no need for fancy movements or melodramatic grace such as what's more common with her colleagues. It was just a simple fire and advance, there wasn't much room to dodge in a corridor, and with her enemies basically clambering over each other, it was difficult to miss anything. She did however keep an eye out behind her for anything that might have any ideas of what flanking is. The only thing out of the ordinary, (if the ordinary was just shooting a mass of flesh slowly being turned into minced meat in the corridor) was a loud boom and a crash somewhere in the station. Though with what's happening to the station right now, Chris decided to worry about it later.

As her song dies down, so does her shooting, and soon the only sound in her vicinity was the dripping of blood and the sound of more broken electronics on the opposite end of the corridor where bullets which have overpenetrated went. She grimaced at her handiwork. While she has seen mutilated flesh like this before, it still didn't sit well with her, doubly so when she's the one that caused the mutilation. She transformed her Gatling guns back to the regular crossbow form as she daintily stepped over the bodies on towards the other end of the corridor.

What was missing however was the unique gunshot noises she was using as a guide earlier. There's only two ways it could have gone... Either the situation was dealt with... The fight has moved on further from her position... or they were overrun... She'd much prefer it to not be the last one...

As she advanced through deeper into the station, she passed by obvious signs of battle, and the lack of the grotesque creatures meant that someone else may have been in the area... Her musings were interrupted when one of her ankle thrusters got caught up on a gold strip on the floor. As she fell, she quickly put her left hand forward and caught herself, flipping over and with the right hand's crossbow at the ready. A few tense seconds later and without being attacked (thankfully) she relaxed a bit before inspecting the culprit... As it turns out it's not some raised part of the floor. It was instead a very tough gold ribbon.

"What the hell is this!?"

She exclaimed as she picked it up. She examined it a bit before her attention was shifted to where the ribbon's ends were... Or rather where they aren't. For the ribbon disappeared around two corners opposite one another. One end leads deeper into the station judging from what she's seen so far, and the other end out towards the edge. She figured it must have been someone leaving a trail that leads to a safe way out for other survivors. It's all well and good, but she's not looking for a safe way out, but if one end is safety, then the other end would lead to the opposite of that. So she decided to follow the ribbon deeper into the station, crossbows and song at the ready.

---

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Grnmachine

@Grnmachine@ACHTUNG@Legion-114

"I certainly couldn't risk the creatures infesting the ship." Sasaki replied, following Mami out. She was, however, correct. He needed to pace himself. He hadn't had any hope of the grotesque little things and their human puppets being a worthwhile energy supply and had still managed to find himself disappointed. He supposed the souls of those that had been transformed had fled long ago. A pity. He would have to let Mami take the next group.

Take them she did, wiping out the hallway with a blast that shook the stations walls. He nodded once to Homura as she conversed with her friend and felt the tale tell vibration of his communicator as information was broadcast on all channels. So the abominations had a name. The Flood...he looked around at the fleshy growths that were even now, scorched from Mami's attack as they were, still trying to grow and swallow up the walls. It was fitting. He decided to make use of this expert and spoke into his communicator. "Mr. Ascendant Retribution? My name is Sasaki Kojiro, an Assassin employed by the UUC. Tell me, if this infestation had a leader where would it be? I feel it would be much easier to deal with this situation if I were to take its head."

Before he got a reply he heard a strange sound coming from down the corridor. It would have been unbelievable were this any other sort of logical universe, but he was sure his ears did not deceive him. It was a song, growing louder. "Also, do they sing?" He asked Ascendant Retribution, leveling his sword in the direction the sound was coming from.

“Greetings, I am Five-Four-Three-Nine Ascendant Retribution. Monitor of Installation 00-D.”

The personnel crew over at the Executor stood by as they heard the initial alert for the so-called "expert" of the Flood. No one knew exactly who this so called expert is, but they didn't speak another word for a good half minute before congregating amongst themselves. Onboard scanners detected that while this ship is bigger than a Star Destroyer (1,600 meters), it's still drawfed by the massive Super Star Destroyer dreadnought looming in the distance (13,469 meters). They planned to essentially eliminate the flood and entire station along with it as soon as their troops come out with the Senator, but alas it appears that plans have been changed.

One of the officers beside Lord Vader looked at him curiously, looking for orders amongst the black sith lord. Yet he was one step ahead of him.

"Permission to contact that ship." he states bluntly as his arms was crossed in front of his chest.

With direct orders coming from Vader, one of the officers attempts to communicate with this ship on his plans of action.

"This is Admiral Larkoff of the Executor-Class Super Star Destroyer," states the admiral, "Your 'expertise' in this matter requires your assistance towards the parasite-infection on the station. We demand for your plan of action against this monstrous menace, or we will fire upon the station within firing range once our men are out!"

---

Samus was rather surprised when she finally uncovered the victim of such a horde. Could it really be who she thinks it is...?

"Kirby...?" she asked aloud, lowering her arm cannon slightly.

While Kirby doesn't necessarily live in her Universe, they have fought one another in a little competition known as the "Super Smash Bros. Tournament". It pits fighters within a multiverse sector classified by the "creator" as the "Nintendo Sector", in which they selected a few chosen fighters to fight within this contest of who is truly the strongest fighter. Characters not only included Samus and Kirby, but even more famous fighters such as Mario (the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom), Link (the hero of Hyrule), Fox McCloud (the famous Star-Pilot of the Lylat System), Marth (the Hero-King of Altea), all just to name a few. In fact, she and Kirby were part of the first tournament, when it casted a roster much smaller compared to her latest one. And she knew it was going to get bigger in the next event.

However, despite their fighting, it was only competitive and nothing serious. Samus considers Kirby the Dream Warrior as an ally regardless and they had even made an interesting duo during a team-up trial. He was a good partner to have, despite his lack of syllables that don't start with "Poyo" or "Hi". Now here he is... standing motionless... as he is encapsulated in ice that he must've swallowed when she fired the ice beam at the parasites.

Uh... Oops.

Well there was only one way to free him out of that block of ice. She points her gun again at the pink marshmallow, setting her cannon to the "Missile" setting. She has 15 missiles locked currently in her weapon... it was enough to get her by, but she definitely needs to refuel and reammo her suit once she gets back on board. Her cannon hums ambiently as she prepares to fire with a sigh.

"Hold still, little guy." she orders as she quickly fires her missile, ultimately breaking Kirby free out of his icy prison.

---

The stormtrooper company enters a large dark hallway within their planned formation as they officially step into the contaminated zone. The flametroopers' lead both the front and back, surrounding the regular stormtroopers as the Commander guided them with a holograph of the station provided by a nearby information booth just before they entered. It was a rather dark hallway, with patches of flood-green material having slowly beginning to grab ahold of the station. Cold and odd was the feeling that everyone had while marching in, always on a constant alert on when and where the enemy will strike. Even with the sounds of blaster fire along with the occasional screams of an unfortunate victim, not a stormtrooper stirred. They've been in situations like this, although admittedly it's not often those exactly like this.

Yet behind their helmets, each one had that uncanny feeling that they were surrounded by something... and that they were being watched.

"They're coming..." Abigail alerts cautiously as they soon come up near a corner, when suddenly several large zombie-like tendrilled abominations came roaring from the corner, "And they're hungry!"

The flametroopers in the front stood their ground as they ignited their weapons, spewing several long volleys of reddish-orange flame at the plant-like monsters. They seemed to reel in anger and pain as they slowly began to burn away from the intense heat. One trooper feels one of the long tendrils nearly brush his helmet and gun before falling to the ground and dying agonizingly Just like what the debriefing said... these guys are indeed weak to fire.

But according to the redhead "Those aren't the problem." as she points behind them to reveal the vent openings above them release a green mist into the room before bulbous creatures starting pouring out of it. "These are the problems!" If the mist attempted to take control of the stormtroopers with their spores, then they would be out of luck, as the helmets were specialized to filter out harmful chemicals and spores of nearly any kind. As Abigail raised her blades, the flametroopers at that back began to harass them with their flamethrowers, burning most who get too close. Yet even as one began to crawl up one of their legs', a stormtrooper recognizes it and quickly takes aim at the leg... and surprisingly didn't miss it. Even the rest of the nearby stormtroopers began firing briefly at some of the creatures as they slowly continued moving forward down the hallway.

"Keep in line men!" the stormtrooper field commander states sternly as they continue to move slowly, "Keep these scum-bags at bay and move in tight formation! Do not let them break through!"

After Homura left, someone else contacted her and Sasaki through their communicators. An artificial voice proclaimed itself, and it was apparently an expert on this "Flood" parasite. Sasaki responded first, but Mami didn't listen. Something tugged on her ribbon. Homura, with her powers, was likely back to the ship by now. She knew that messing with Mami's ribbons would only put more strain on her. Someone, or something else had stumbled upon it.

Sasaki then asked if the Flood sang, getting Mami's attention. She saw that he had his sword pointed down the corridor, the same direction as Mami's ribbon. "You heard singing?" She asked. Before Sasaki answered though, she already had a musket summoned in her hand, just in case. She began to hear the music herself, it being sung in her native language. How strange. She thought to herself. "Who's there?" She called out.