The Energon Pub

"Former 31st Squad Commander Maximus Kolan and bounty hunter Samus Aran have arrived on the planet Tallon IV..."

Samus and Maximus entered the atmosphere of Tallon IV, and after they reached terra firma, Samus then landed the ship in the exact area where she landed during her first visit to the planet several months ago. Maximus was taking in the sights of the landscape and waterfalls that were throughout the small landing site. Never before had he seen such a place. Throughout his entire career serving in the Federation Marine Corp., he was used to seeing wastelands, and desolate worlds; and while SR388 had some vegetation, it was still mostly rock, and stone. Samus stood up out of the piloting seat, and then walked past Maximus to the back of the ship, Kolan then followed suit. The ship's entrance platform then lowered to the grass below, they both stepped off of the platform, and then it rose back up into the vessel. "Get some rest, we begin training tomorrow." Samus said. "Why are you doing this?" Maximus questioned. Samus paused for a moment, "Because...I too know what it's like to lose everything that you once held dear. All the times that I worked with you and your team, I could tell, by the look in your eyes, that you deeply cared for your squad mates, and I knew how you felt when I heard what happened on SR388. That is why I am going to help the 31st Squad's legacy live on through you." Maximus stared at Samus for a moment, he had no idea that she had a tragic past; she had never mentioned anything regarding the subject until now. ".........Thank you." Maximus replied.

That night, as Maximus slept, he dreamt of the mission on SR388, in which he was in the Pirate facility again, reliving the death of his team. After they had been killed, and he escaped in the ship, a voice spoke to him, it was Lei. "Maximus, why couldn't you save us?" Lei's voice asked, "You always know what to do, why didn't you think of something then?" Maximus' head lowered in shame. Then he found himself on the Olympus again, in the AU chamber, the voice of AU 242 once again saying, "you have disgraced the Federation", the words of the techno-organic super computer echoed, repeating over and over, "you have disgraced the Federation". The face of the AU turned into the helmet of the Pirate Commander, it then laughed in a chilling, harsh tone, and began growing more and more intense, but then started to fade away as he faintly heard a voice calling his name, "Maximus? Maximus? Maximus, are you ready to start?" He then woke up breathing heavily, it was now morning. Samus was standing there, looking at him with concern, "Are you well?" Maximus took a moment to reply, "I'm fine" he then got up off of the grass, "I'm ready" he said, Samus simply nodded, "Suit up, and then go through that door over there." She pointed to a door that was a few feet away from the ship up on a slope of stones, which were shaped like steps. "There is another one within the small cave inside, I will await you through there." she finished.

After a few minutes, Maximus was fully clad in his armor, he went through the door on top of the step-shaped rocks, and as Samus said, there she was waiting for him inside the small cave. They went through the next door which led outside; the area had several small waterfalls, a small pond, and two other doors. One door was at the top of a set of rocky platforms, and another at the end of a half-pipe shaped formation of walls. "This is where we will begin your training." said Samus, "This seems like a good area." Maximus replied. They went over into the half-pipe formation, where Samus began to instruct him on what their routines would be, routines that would last for some time to come. After she had covered everything, they then spent the next few hours training in Samus' personal style of hand-to-hand combat to add on to Maximus' skill. Her style was a very brutal form that Maximus wasn't accustomed to, it relied heavily on grapples, jabs, tackles, and roundhouse kicks. It took some time, but Kolan began to grow used to it; next came long range combat, where Samus helped him learn various sharp shooting techniques to improve upon his already good aim. Soon, hours became days, days became weeks, and the weeks became a month, as Samus slowly but surely began to shape Maximus Kolan into the warrior he was destined to become, the apprentice of the galaxy's protector.

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