Sylux

Powering on...
CPU 20% and rising...
Cooling tanks online.
Core Matrix initializing...
CPU 50% and rising...
Core Matrix powered on.
Standby Mode powered off.
Aurora Unit 486 powered on.
CPU 80% and rising...
Power to hardware systems restored.
CPU 100%.
Begin transmission toward Federation controlled space...

Day 56...
    Hello. I am Aurora Unit four-eight-six, originally the Artificial Intelligence of Norion. However, because of a fatal accident on a planet far away, possibly SR388, I was transported to the G.F.S. Victoria to investigate. We took off to find the problem and possibly fix it, but a slight miscalculation of the slip space equation used resulted in the Victoria being transported to a planet outside of Federation space, called Cylosis. I now believe that the ship's computers were hacked, but not via Space Pirate technology.
     Upon exiting the slip space rupture, a hazy planet was seen below us. It seemed to be either always snowing there, or a blue dust storm had overtaken the planet. Either way the life of the planet suffered from it. From what I could tell, life signs were critical, at only five percent of what Earth is now, including the human population. I had to ask myself why we were taken here.
     I tried to calculate another equation, but by this time the entire ship's computer, including my control over it, was being controlled elsewhere. All I had command over was my Core Matrix, my "mind," and "memories," if you will. Whoever was controlling us was extremely smart. I gave it a name: Hacker.
     Hacker was taking us to the surface, it seemed, and before we knew it, we were amid the blue-gray dust and snow; I could now tell that it was both. No wonder the population was so low.
     The men aboard the ship were preparing for battle. When the ship landed, and the door opened, they filed out. Nothing happened for the next twenty minutes. Seeing nothing wrong, the men backed down, and, their mistake, they let their guard down too. The next thing that happened was horrible. A figure in blue armor fell from the sky, as if it had jumped. It let out a cry, and opened fire. Each man went down seemingly at once; the only weapon used was a single shock of continuous blue lightning. I had only heard of this once before, the weapon called Shock Coil. Deadly, it could shoot a continuous bolt of electricity that drains the target's life and replenishes the user's. I had to assume that this was Hacker. Once it finished the men, it turned its head toward the ship. After that, I shut down my systems so I would seem useless, and I was out.
     When I powered up again, I was in a cavern full of technology reserved only for those higher up in position. Hacker took me there. What a hacker, indeed! It knew how to use me... My own databases used against me. This was where my story began.

∙∙∙

Day 1...
     The walls were so cold. The temperature here was far below zero; in fact it was nearing absolute zero. My cooling tanks shielded me from this, regulating my temperature.
     It was dark. I could see nothing, but my motion sensors are intact. Something is moving. As I continued to power on, a hand flattened itself against the glass of my tank. It looked human, and wore blue. Then, as if the sun rose, the room began to grow lighter from bulbs on the roof that were before unnoticed by me. The figure was tall, as tall as Samus. It was completely humanoid. The suit it wore was blue, and looked Federation-made. It had a gun attached to its right arm, the Shock Coil, from the looks of it.
     When it noticed that I was powered on and was observing it, it changed into an alternative form, the Lockjaw, an action reserved for bounty hunters. It hovered out of the room through a small tunnel, dug out for escape use. Taking a survey of my surroundings, and with Hacker gone, I saw a ship, blue and X shaped from a bird's viewpoint. I recognized it as the Delano 7, a ship stolen from the Federation, as with Hacker's armor and weapon.
     By that time, I could put together that Hacker is the one that the Federation had dubbed "Sylux." Sylux had only just appeared in the galaxy, and the Federation had no record of its species or gender. They didn't even know where it came from. Seeing where it lived now, I changed its homeworld to Cylosis.
     That was the last piece of information I ever sent to the Federation.

∙∙∙

Day 2...
     Sylux is extremely gifted at controlling technology of any type. I saw him fiddling with weapons of Pirate, Federation, and even Chozo origin. A device that looked Luminoth in origin was used, and then it brought out up a holographic map of the Alimbic cluster. It's planning something.
     It made clear to me that it hated the Federation. By using parts of my database, quickly processing them as if it had done it one thousand times before, it found planets owned by the Federation and places they were sending people. One person in particular caught its eye, and it hesitated when seeing her: Samus Aran. It clenched its left fist, morphed into Lockjaw, and left, speedily.
     Upon closer examination, Samus Aran was issued a mission to retrieve an "ultimate power" in the Alimbic cluster, the place Sylux was studying earlier.
     Something is going to happen.

∙∙∙

Day 5...
     Over the few days past, Sylux has been gathering himself. It's going to leave for the Alimbic cluster to get the "ultimate power." It also tried to tell me something, but seeing I had no way of translating its seemingly phonetic speech, it gave up.
     It would only be a matter of time before I could translate it. I think it might have been a form of English, it just might not have spoken for so long that it transformed into screeches and high pitched garble that vaguely resembled its phonetic origin.
     It stood with its hands still on the table, leaning over the flat surface. It has been trying to fix something, but was to be observing it now. Noiselessly, it turned its head to me. Its gaze, though I didn't see its eyes, pierced through me. It stood up straight and paced over to my tank. My first introduction to it:
     "I am Aurora Unit four-eight-six. Can you speak? Can you even understand me?" Sylux nodded once.

∙∙∙

Day 8...
     It is gone, left for the Alimbic cluster. It took heavy ammunition along with the stolen Delano 7, power suit, Shock Coil, and Lockjaw. I know what that means: it will be gone for a while.
     With it gone, I've had time to study its home, and the Alimbic cluster it is going after. Seven bounty hunters in total left for this "ultimate power," Sylux being one. I do not expect to see it anytime soon, so I am researching what it left in the open. Along with its studies on interstellar space, it has gathered, it left an audio recording of itself talking, the audio sounded obviously phonetic. In one day I had it deciphered.
     I cursed myself for not recording the earlier conversation when it tried to speak to me. My ignorance will pay.
Standby mode on.

∙∙∙

Day 20...
     Standby mode off. Twelve days have passed since my last report and nothing has happened. I am recording this to say that I found more information on Sylux. It left a written note, perhaps a part of a journal, which I connected with the alphabet I deciphered earlier. Basing it on English, I could piece together what the note said:

     I do not regret what I did. The Federation had it coming. First they overtook my planet, and then they charged me as an outlaw and deported me to this unknown place full of blue dirt and snow. I have learned how to live on my own, and use technology to my whim, so that I can thank them for.
     They created the ship, suit, Lockjaw, and weapon here. I merely gave them a test of defense. Now I have the flag they need to capture. Because of this, they have sent wave after wave of soldiers after me, but they stand no chance. Nothing does.

     I now understand why Sylux dislikes the Federation. But, if it is not from this planet, where is it from? The Federation is not an evil force in my opinion, but Sylux makes them seem to be. Why?
     Unless...
Standby mode on.

∙∙∙

Day 30...
     Sylux is still gone. Over the past ten days, I have gathered information from scans of its numerous journals and its study of planets. It is intelligent, especially in the Federation. Why is it so intelligent in something it is fighting? I suppose it is easier to fight something knowing it inside-out.
     My question is this: how did it receive this information, these vast databases, about the Federation? Something has gone awry here. I plan to find out what, even if these messages do not make it to the Federation. At least it will please me, finding out.
Standby mode on.

∙∙∙

Day 34...
     Sylux returned, two days earlier than now. He did not seem happy, though emotion does not register itself with him easily. His suit was damaged and dented, and his ammunition was drained. The Delano 7 was damaged, close to being beyond repair. The Lockjaw, though, remained undamaged, aside from a few scratches. I do not know if Sylux has knowledge of what I have discovered about it.
     It was slouching in its chair, sparks flying, as it was fixing pieces of its suit. It then turned to me. It vocalized something, which when translated, said:
     "I need help fixing this."
     "I can only promise help if you can remove your helmet."
     It hesitated and looked down. It was deciding what to do.
     "No. You will help me, or I will shut you down, permanently."
     "I think you will find it unnecessary to do so, I can still communicate with you, my core matrix runs on a different power supply than everything else. I have self-destruct sequences that can only be overridden using a keycode known only by Captains and above. And if you do that, you will have no way of repairing your ship, suit, and weapon."
     Defeated, it stood and turned away. It didn't want to reveal itself to me yet, or possibly ever. Amusing. I am an AI, no, an AU. I am of the highest caliber in weaponry. It cannot outsmart a computer-intelligence.
     It turned back to me. Its hands quietly, slowly, reached up to its helmet. It grasped its blue head, but a sound was heard, coming from outside. Uninterested in what it was about to do, Sylux left silently with ammunition and the Shock Coil.

∙∙∙

Day 40...
     Sylux still hasn't revealed anything to me, and has managed to fix its suit, helmet (when I wasn't watching), but not the Delano 7. Now it can't leave, and neither can I. Something tells me this will be a long wait.
     Four days ago, Sylux almost removed its helmet, but was interrupted by a sound outside. After it came back into the cave, it informed me that Space Pirates had landed on Cylosis in search of a Federation item whose message 39 days earlier they had intercepted. Sylux made short work of them. I asked him where he came from, but received no reply. I asked him what he really was, but found silence my answer. Finally I asked him why he could not tell me anything. He replied with:
     "I cannot tell you anything because you already know everything."
     Strange. I do not know what that is to mean. Is he referring to the journals he left behind? Or ... something else.

∙∙∙

Day 45...
     The Delano 7 is still in disrepair. Sylux had given up on it two days ago. I have also noticed Sylux shows signs of anxiety, and paranoia. Something must be contributing.
     From the maps I have gathered of its making, I can tell that it has visited many planets. I have counted 74 red "X's" total on all maps. Several planets were once circled, then "X"ed out. But what is more peculiar to me, is that Sylux has visited 60 Federation planets out of the total 74, the other 14 being Federation territories. My database does not have reports of these planets being damaged in any way, so why are they "X"ed? Even Earth had an "X"...

∙∙∙

Day 50...
     Sylux has been getting more and more aggressive, in sync with the more I learn about him. I assume the two are linked, though I have no way of proving it. If he goes any further, I will be forced to use what defensive protocols I possess.
     It also began fixing the ship.

∙∙∙

Day 55...
     It finished the ship.
     Sylux went as far as to manually shut me off. I fear that he will soon attack my databases, extracting vital information about the Federation, and using it to his advantage. His paranoia is getting worse, but is probably only starting. I still haven't figured out why he hates the Federation so badly.
     Space Pirate raids are now a daily occasion here, on Cylosis. That leads me to believe that Sylux has not only stolen valuable articles from the Federation but also from the Pirates. How deadly. It told me that it was leaving today, as it did. It also carelessly left more things out, allowing me to read and use them. One is titled "My Home."

     When the Federation first formed, I was against them. I hated them, what they did. They are only a corrupt organization created by a corrupt species. What they search for, they will never find. Peace in this universe is like asking a fire not to burn when it's surrounded by a field of dry grass. They promote peace, but reign with war. The corrupt creators turned to their allies for help promoting their "peace." Their allies, the humans, took their call for peace and turned it into an instrument of war. The humans ruled over my planet when they first joined the Federation. I saw the signs of corruption before. I was a ge...

     Sylux shot the note, which in turn caught fire, before I could scan the remainder of it. It ran toward me, angrily. I thought I felt fear for a fraction of a second, but my defense systems kicked in quickly. Two small energy cannons were attached to the top of my main tank and began to fire at Sylux. But it transformed into Lockjaw and dodged all of the bullets.
     When it returned to normal, it turned its head toward me. A small plasma bullet it had not anticipated slammed itself into the helmet. Sylux grabbed its head. Finding no other alternative, it removed its helmet.
     Sylux, the human male, scarred on its right eye with three fatal-looking lacerations, had the look of pure rage. He quickly ran out of the room, grabbing one thing: a piece of paper. I had time to scan it before he left.

Dear Love,
     I apologize for anything that may have harmed you. All of it is my fault. I thought that I could defeat the Federation by fighting them from the inside out. I never realized how much that hurt you. I left for your own good; they would have each of us killed. Something was wrong with them. They were planning something, and are still. They want to use something for their own self-gain. They know something, and I wanted to stop it. Being general, I thought I could accomplish this.
     But now, I realize my mistake. I cannot reveal my identity to anyone when I am wearing the armor, but I plan on coming home. Right now, I have an Aurora Unit, and the ship. If it can help me, then I can disguise the ship and come home to you. I will send this letter to you through the AU. I only hope you still love me when I return. I have been a rotten husband, but I still love you, more than anything in any world and any universe. Without you, I can feel myself losing sanity. You are my only love, and my best, and closest, friend.

∙∙∙

Day 56...
     My story is over now. I will go into a "hibernate" state. Until someone finds this, I will stay like this. I will never reveal Sylux's true identity. The human mind mine was modeled after feels for him. I feel sympathy. I don't know why. I can connect with him. I hope this is found. Sylux took the ship, suit, Lockjaw, and Shock Coil.
     I have also now sent the letter to his love. But with another note added.

P.S.
     I am Aurora Unit 486. I am sorry, but your husband left the place we are staying in a storm. If he returns, as I am hopeful he does, to your dwelling, please show him this post-script. I feel sorry for him now, and for you. I am truly sorry for not helping him when I did. Thank you.

Sylux was a general. A renowned general, at that.
He was a good man, a brave warrior.
He had a great heart.
Powering down...