🪐 Zero Transmission — Metroid Synthwave Tribute by Blótheim
A love letter to Metroid, to Samus Aran, to spaceship hums and distant alien planets.
Zero Transmission is out now — a full tribute blending retro synthwave, neon lights and cosmic atmosphere.
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As I'm thinking about how a Metroid story adaptation covering the whole series would work out, I'm considering the situation on Zebes during the Zero Mission.
We know there were three research vessels, Frigates Orpheon, Siriacus, and Vol Paragom in orbit when everything happened. Otherwise, I feel like Zebes should have more of an orbital defense; The NES manual mentions that the planet's surface is rocky, acting as a natural barrier, and I presume most passageways into the caverns below are heavily guarded. The exception is one used by Samus, who knows Zebes' layout well due to having grown up there.
I'm thinking that in addition to the research frigates, there are a couple of Space Pirate warships; But mostly frighteningly of all are the Metroids. With hundreds of them floating in orbit around Zebes, they act like natural spacemines; Any intruders attempting to fly into Zebes, if they even make it past the Space Pirate blockade, will likely fly directly into the Metroids, who are small and hard to keep track of at high speeds.
But even a single Metroid is devastating to a ship, such as a personal craft; They can drain technology of its power by grappling onto it from the outside. And unless the Metroid is placed right in front of a turret or other weapons system, the ship has no reliable way of getting the Metroid off without the pilot exiting the vessel to somehow remove it themselves; But that would endanger themselves far too much, so no.
And there's an entire swarm of Metroids; They can sense and track down energy signatures, making them excellent hunters. So if a Metroid is draining something, it will emit a unique signature that other Metroids in the area will notice and congregate towards. This made them very naturally self-coordinated when hunting down the X, as the Chozo intended; It also makes them a nightmare for any other prey too.
Think of it this way; You fly past Space Pirate enemy fire, only to hit something small. Your ship barely registers physical contact, but before you know it something on the outside is draining of it all power. Ahead of you, your scanners spot movement; Dozens of other Metroids are now lining themselves up inside your flight path, hoping for you to fly into them and give the predators a chance to latch on and feed, too.
Assuming you somehow make it to Zebes' atmosphere before your ship loses all energy, then you can at least be reassured that the friction from atmospheric re-entry will pry off the Metroids; But your ship is still weakened, and it won't fit through the narrow entrances to Zebes' caverns, where the Space Pirates are located. And there are still Space Pirate patrols flying within the atmosphere who will chase after you, and remember that you've lost a decent portion of your power due to those Metroids... Said Metroids, who you've dragged into Zebes' atmosphere, will be redirected by Mother Brain to a Space Pirate outpost on the surface, who will promptly transport them back into orbit above the planet to resume their station.
Don't even try to get through the Zebes blockade with a large cruiser. You're doomed; Even with a fleet, the Space Pirates will counteract with their own warships. And Mother Brain will command Metroids in orbit to swarm an enemy fleet. Due to their small size, it's very tricky to hit one, and with Space Pirate allies backing them up, plenty of Metroids can weave their way past enemy ships to attack the larger cruisers.
Sometimes they'll just absorb the energy of a fighter's attack, although the force will send them hurtling back for a bit before they recenter themselves and resume their pursuit. Thankfully, Metroids don't need to be destroyed by the cold; A shot from a cruiser's cannon can overpower the Metroid's defenses entirely, obliterating them. But when you consider Metroids as an infantry unit, you can see why nuking the whole place is an impractical solution; And when they participate alongside Space Pirate fleets, one will take the blows for the other.
A few dozen Metroids can wreak havoc on a cruiser from the outside, sensing the location of power conduits beneath the hull. And they can just as easily wreak havoc inside, too; Their flexible bodies allow them to squeeze through tight spaces, so long as they're just big enough to accommodate their fangs; Not unlike an octopus. They can access conduits directly to more efficiently drain a cruiser, robbing parts of a ship ranging from cannons to even a command bridge's access to power.
And if a Metroid manages to make its way inside the corridors of a cruiser? Absolute chaos. And with Mother Brain's guidance, Metroids orbiting Zebes can receive direct orders to efficiently attack and dismantle parts of a cruiser's energy grid, its life support systems, etc.
This is why a full-scale attack on Zebes is unfeasible; In addition to the fact that Zebes can always call on additional reinforcements, and the presence of other vessels along the route to Zebes in the first place. Thus, a fleet could be intercepted by the Space Pirates well before they reach Zebes.
All of these factors are why the Federation needed to rely on sneaking saboteurs within the Zebes stronghold, instead of attacking it head-on. Some did make it past the blockade and Metroid mines, but upon landing on the surface, got picked off by Sky Pirates or space pirate ships flying overhead. Those who remained hidden still needed to find one of the elusive passageways leading miles through Zebes' crust to its expansive caverns below; And all of these were guarded heavily.
But as mentioned before, Samus knew of one that even Mother Brain had overlooked, and this is how she was able to access the Brinstar caverns of Zebes. From there, it was a matter of assassinating the Space Pirate general Kraid to retrieve one of the access keys to Tourian, implanted within his wrist; The other was on Ridley, who unwittingly delivered Mother Brain's defeat when he arrived on Zebes to finish off Samus himself. Had he stayed off-planet with his access key, Samus might not have found her way into Tourian to destroy Mother Brain.
And with Mother Brain's destruction, came the un-taming of the Metroids; Without her Thoha telepathy to control them, the Metroids slowly but surely realized they had nothing to listen to from the Space Pirates, and all the energy in the world to feed from them. When Samus Aran destroyed Mother Brain, this led to the collapse of the beta reactors within Tourian without Mother to regulate them.
The resulting meltdown clued in the Mothership's crew to Samus' location, with commander Weavel (operating in Ridley's absence as his body was sent to the orbiting Orpheon's advanced medical bay to be resuscitated) sending fighters after Samus. Between enemy fire and a re-encounter with the Metroids in orbit, Samus failed to escape Zebes and her ship crashed, the explosion wrecking her power suit beyond repair.
Vulnerable, she had to abandon her destroyed ship; And needing a way off-planet, the closest source for an alternate craft was the Mothership left by Ridley! Samus did consider going for the longer trek to another, less-guarded outpost... However, fighters were flying overhead, scanning for her; She couldn't make that without being caught and gunned down. So the Mothership it was.
Samus attempted to access the hangar or escape pod bays, but they were all locked down and would need heavier firepower to blast her way through. Luckily for her, Ridley happened to land the Mothership right next to Chozodia, one of the Space Pirate-guarded access points to Zebes' caverns; This was his path into Norfair where he eventually ambushed Samus. Still, Samus was almost caught on her way out of the Mothership... Until an urgent alert interrupted every Space Pirate aboard.
It had taken a bit for the Metroids to figure it out; But without Mother, they had no more obligation to the Space Pirates, and now all Metroids in orbit had begun turning on the Zebes blockade. In his obsession to destroy the hunter, Weavel refused to fly the Mothership back into orbit to aid the fleet, which was struggling to contain the Metroid attack. This might've been for the better, anyway...
Many Metroids were also inside of the blockade's ships, and not just outside in the vacuum of space; These contributed to the chaos. Luckily for Frigate Orpheon, which housed the injured and vulnerable Ridley, they had recently reverse-engineered some of the Chozo's beam technology, thanks to donations and data from Mother Brain. Although full-scale production had not yet begun, the Orpheon's crew made use of their new Ice Beams to contain the Metroids.
Nevertheless, their cargo was their newly-reinstated leader Ridley; The Space Pirates could not risk his death, and continuing to remain within Zebes' orbit would still expose the Orpheon to Metroids attacking from the outside, who could damage other parts of the frigate that the crew wouldn't be able to access with their Ice Beams. Thus, Weavel gave the command for the Orpheon to evacuate Zebes; Frigates Siriacus and Vol Paragom were also allowed to leave, as they held other Space Pirate projects, and due to being research vessels could not contribute much to stopping the Metroid attack.
All of this chaos gave Samus the distraction she needed to sneak into Chozodia; She still had to deal with Space Pirates stationed there as well, but eventually found another Power Suit to don, with additional upgrades. With everything she needed to blast her way through the hangar's defenses, Samus re-entered the Mothership, guns ablazing, to Weavel's horror.
At the same time, one of the Space Pirate warships found itself taken down by the Metroids; Some latched onto the ship from the outside as its engines lost power, causing the vessel to be dragged by Zebes' gravity to its surface, where it exploded not far from the Mothership. The explosion destroyed the Metroids trapped inside; However, those clinging to the hull were torn off from the air friction of atmospheric re-entry.
Trapped within Zebes' atmosphere, the disappointed, insatiable Metroids turned their attention to the nearest, most potent source of energy; The Mothership's crew and reactor. As they headed towards the Mothership, Weavel managed to redirect and trap Samus with blockade doors in the same chamber as the unfinished yet functional Mecha Ridley, whose AI took control to defend itself.
But as Samus fought the robotic doppelganger, unbeknownst to her, Metroids outside had begun to attack the Mothership. Despite the crew's attempts to repel them with the vessel's weaponry, its stationary position made it a sitting duck. As Weavel attempted to control the situation, seriously considering a retreat, the Metroids made their way inside and began draining all personnel. Some targeted the ship's reactor, which caused it to malfunction and begin melting down.
At the same time, Samus had managed to defeat Mecha Ridley, severing one of its primary conduits; But even with most of the machine inoperable, its self-destruct mechanism was intact and activated. Luckily for Samus, the Metroids attacking the reactor caused a failure in the ship's power grid, which caused the doors trapping her inside the room to release; This also caused the doors sealing the hangar to open, too.
(This is because in the event of a power failure, you don't want people being trapped inside; So doors are designed to open without energy.)
This allowed Samus to escape the room just before Mecha Ridley exploded, a detonation that would've killed her. Mecha Ridley's self-destruct was not enough to destroy the entire Mothership, just a small portion of it. The true explosion would come from the reactor's impending meltdown, which Samus raced against time to reach the hangar.
All captains must go down with their ship; In the Mothership's case, that would be Ridley, but due to extenuating circumstances he had already been sent into space aboard the Orpheon. Acting in his position was Weavel, who instead assumed this responsibility gravely. Hoping to trap Samus in the meltdown with him, Weavel ordered all crew members to evacuate ASAP, hoping to deplete the ship of any flight crafts or escape pods Samus would use to escape.
The only crafts left were in the last escape pod bay, which Weavel headed to alongside two fellow pirates to ambush Samus. If any others showed up before her, they would be permitted to take the remaining escape pods and leave; To his credit, Weavel had some honor and would not insist on dooming others against their will to take down Samus. So instead of playing it safe by destroying these remaining pods, he kept them intact for any stragglers who showed up.
He'd still take advantage of any remaining pods, however; Weavel ordered the weaker of his two comrades to hide inside one of them. In case Weavel and his fellow armored pirate fell, he hoped they'd at least inflict enough damage on Samus for the third one, who'd wait for Samus inside one of the pods, to jump out and finish her off at the last second; Just when Samus thought she was safe and could lower her guard!
To Weavel's credit, him and his ally -aided by other Space Pirates Samus encountered on the rush to the escape pods- managed to whittle down her energy tanks to the last one before they both fell. Weavel's body was ravaged externally and internally by the Wave Beam, but he still clung to life as Samus entered the bay. The third pirate jumped out, and came so desperately close to slaying the hunter... But her reaction time won out and saved her life, ending the pirate's.
Samus boarded the escape pod, even as some stragglers arrived to escape, and made a quick read of the situation with Weavel and two other pirates ravaged on the floor, and the hunter about to fly off in one of their escape pods. A bold yet foolish Space Pirate tried to stop Samus at this point, only to die pointlessly; The others boarded Weavel and his armor comrade aboard the remaining pods and flew out, right after Samus.
Luckily for Samus, the escape pods had no armaments; Otherwise she'd have to worry about being shot down as she escaped. And because she was in a Space Pirate pod, the ships in orbit did not find any issue with her; In fact, they were too busy to notice Samus as they dealt with the remaining Metroids, and another ship fell from the sky.
Desperate to save Weavel, the Space Pirates who followed after Samus instead boarded one of the vessels in orbit, rushing him despite the chaos to a medical bay as quickly as possible. Behind them, the Mothership's reactor finally detonated, obliterating all Metroids in the area.
Samus flew as far as she could before sending out a distress signal, wanting to avoid being discovered by the very Space Pirates she was attempting to flee. Luckily for her, a Federation cruiser picked Samus up, bringing her back to Daiban. As for the situation on Zebes, the Space Pirate fleet painstakingly managed to eliminate all of their Metroids on the planet, to their chagrin; So much investment turned against them, and now having to be destroyed by them, too!
Weavel survived, technically; But his injuries were so extensive only his brain and spinal cord were recovered, and he was subject to Project Metamorphosis without his consent. Nor did he consent to the distinctly non-Zebesian cybernetic frame that science team gave him; His objections and demands for a more fitting body were ignored, and Weavel was forced to go through a particularly extensive recovery period as he adjusted both to being a total cyborg, as well as a body with an alien shape to the one he was used to.
Samus Aran received adulation, though she attempted to avoid it; She was just glad to have gotten closure by preventing others from suffering from the pirates as Samus had, while taking revenge on Ridley and Mother Brain, who had murdered her families and destroyed her lives. Zebes wasn't exactly reclaimed, but at least Samus had gained a greater connection to her culture through the gifts leftover by the Thoha. These made her more powerful than Samus had ever been, and in addition to her newfound reputation, sparked a legendary tenure as a bounty hunter with many more commissions to come.
Horrified by his transformation, Weavel felt personally betrayed after everything he had given to the Space Pirates, as well as disillusioned by the catastrophic backfire of the Metroid breeding program; He felt the Space Pirates had put all their eggs into one basket by depending on Mother Brain, a usurper with disdain towards them, as their new leader and the load-bearing component of the Metroid project.
Dissatisfied with Space Pirate leadership, he left the organization; But at the same time, he still retained belief towards the cause. This led Weavel to work frequently with his former comrades as a bounty hunter, now able to do things on his own terms, without any science team to dictate for him.
Ridley was resuscitated, and infuriated over the Space Pirates' defeat on Zebes and Mother Brain's destruction, learned that all across the galaxy, his forces were struggling with containing the Metroids they had relied upon, as well as renewed onslaught from the Federation. With sole leadership reinstated by Mother's demise, Ridley gave an order out to remaining Space Pirate cells to scatter and lay low; Most were to retreat from their Metroid-infested stations and leave the problem to the Federation to die for.
What few Metroids the pirates could contain would be kept 'on ice' and used carefully and sparingly, as Ridley believed they still held some, albeit limited, use as an asset. Key bases would be reclaimed and rebuilt, such as Urtraghus or Zebes. As he recovered aboard the Orpheon, Ridley was subject to Project Metamorphosis, much to his chagrin, as he hid within the Tallon system and occasionally checked up on the reconstruction of Zebes, hoping to salvage anything within the ruins. His plan was to patiently wait for the Space Pirate cells to recover through their own various smaller-scale operations, before regrouping on Urtraghus.
Although her organic components had been vaporized, Mother Brain's code -her digital 'soul'- had managed to survive within the damaged yet intact hardware in Tourian. Given the dangerous levels of beta radiation left over, it would take a while for the Space Pirates rebuilding their base on Zebes to decontaminate Tourian and render it operable again. But eventually they'd reconnect with that hardware, and make a chilling discovery; Until then, Mother Brain would wait in dormancy to be reawakened and reborn...
