"The Data upgrade." Samus said, selecting the upgrade from the list. This was another one that intrigued her from the name, since data wasn't really something that had a physical form. Maybe it was an upgrade for her suit's data banks, or computer? Either way, it was a power suit upgrade, something she hadn't done many of, and she decided to find out just what it did. She took the upgrade from the machine and inserted it into her power suit, waiting for it to apply.

Immediately, a notification appeared on her visor, saying:

DIRECT SHIP INTERFACE REQUIRED.

Samus was somewhat surprised by the notification, since this wasn't something that had happened in any of her previous upgrades, which only increased her curiosity. She headed into her ship, establishing a link with her main computer, and activated the upgrade again, this time coming up with a new notice.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. UPGRADE UPLOADED, PREPARING TO APPLY…
WARNING, USE OF UPGRADE MAY RESULT IN DEATH OF BODY OF USER. RECCOMMENDED APPROACH: DO NOT USE.

Samus immediately disconnected her suit and deactivated the upgrade. While the other upgrades had made some strange and drastic alterations to her, none of them had just straight up tried to kill her! It looked like she'd have to just forget about finding out what this one did, but it wasn't like there was any shortage of other upgrades to try out. She headed back over to the terminal, and began to select a new upgrade.

On her computer however, the upgrade remained, stored in the ship's data storage, unused, but still active, ready to be used in the rare case of Samus needing it…

--

Samus collapsed onto the table in her medical bay, stifling a gasp of pain from the poison coursing through her body, among the many other injuries she had sustained. In her most recent mission, months after she had left the satellite housing all of the strange upgrades she had used, she had taken on the usual gauntlet of enemies and obstacles that she normally did, only this time, she didn't make it out safe and victorious like she usually did.

While she had won the fight with the creature that had mortally wounded her, it came at the price of her power suit being breached, and Samus being inflicted with a poison that would kill her in hours. She had managed to drag herself back to her ship and take off the power suit, bleeding out as she made her way to the ship's medical bay, but by then, it was too late, and there was no cure for the poison that would work for her at that stage. The various automated medical tools worked their hardest on Samus, repairing the physical damage made to her body as well as they could, but the grim truth that she realised was that she wasn't making it out of this one.

Samus, who had done the only thing she could and stopped the pain using heavy doses of painkillers, not caring about any adverse effects due to her imminent death, reflected on her life, and figured that it had to end like this someday, and that she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for her life. She had made an impact on the galaxy, and at least she would be remembered for the damage she had done to the Space Pirates, and her many other deeds that she had accomplished during her lifetime.

As the various readings in the medical bay around her hit critical, Samus lay back, the black spots dancing over her vision growing thicker, gave one last look at herself, and closed her eyes, dying seconds later. For a few seconds, her body lay there, her death being relayed around her ship, the computer rapidly reacting and deciding on the only course it could take, settling on one lone program lingering in the data banks.

An web of electrodes were quickly attached to her head via robotic appendages, and several beams of light began to scan her body, replicating every detail in a model created on the computer, while her brain was scanned and her mind uploaded the ship's computer, merging with the upgrade as it began to work…

Samus lay back, waiting to finally die, when she realised that she wasn't dying. In fact, she felt just fine. Slightly odd, but just fine. In fact, she realised that she wasn't even in the medical bay, judging by the lack of things attached to her body. While she wasn't a very spiritual person, she recalled her teachings by the Chozo, and wondered if she was in some kind of afterlife, and what had happened to her. She opened her eyes, and found herself lying on the floor in the middle of her ship's hallway in her zero suit, fully repaired and looking slightly off.

She pulled herself up, and took a look at herself. When she inspected herself, she felt fine, but there was something off about herself, something like she was there, but she wasn't there, her form flickering very slightly every now and then. She decided to head to her bridge to consult her computer, the door opening automatically as she walked to it, sitting down in the chair to access the computer. At least she would have, if she hadn't sunk right through it in a shower of particles and light.

Alarmed by the development, Samus stuck her hand into the chair, phasing right through, although not like a ghost, but like she was a projection, and her hand simply stopped existing when it touched the metal. Come to think of it, she hadn't felt any pain when she fell onto the metal floor, and she didn't feel hungry, or thirsty, or short of breath at any moment… She raised her hand to her chest, and confirmed what she pretty much already knew. No heartbeat. She struggled to keep herself calm, and spoke, disconcerting herself when her voice came from around her, rather than from her mouth, like it was coming from the ship itself.

"Computer, what's wrong with me?" She said, keeping her voice as level as she could, as the computer quickly responded.

"DUE TO THE CONDITION OF YOUR PHYSICAL BODY, YOUR MIND HAS BEEN UPLOADED TO THE SHIP'S COMPUTER USING THE DATA UPGRADE FOUND TO BE SUITABLE TO ADDRESSING THE SITUATION."

An upgrade had saved her life? Or maybe not, considering what the computer had said. She took another look at her hand, holding it close to her face and staring at it, discovering that she could see through it very slightly, not completely opaque. Which would make her…

"I'm a hologram? I'm a copy made by the computer to replicate the original Samus Aran?"

"INCORRECT. SAMUS ARAN'S ORIGINAL MIND IS YOU, GIVEN A PRECENSE ON THIS SHIP THROUGH THE AUTOMATED HOLOGRAM SYSTEM. IN THIS FORM, YOU MAY INTERFACE WITH THE SHIP DIRECTLY, AND CONTROL IT THROUGH THOSE MEANS."
So she was alive, but she wasn't alive? But that meant… Her body, back in the medical bay? She wasn't sure that she wanted to see her own corpse. She didn't think anyone would want to. Still, she was technically alive, so she might as well make the most of it. Not too many people got another shot at life after their death, after all. She looked at her holographic form, a perfect replica of her physical body in every way, and addressed her computer.

"Computer, my… my body in the medical bay, preserve and suspend it until I can figure out what to do with it. After that, allow me to interface with the ship. I want to figure out just what I can do in this form."

"AFFIRMATIVE." The computer responded, Samus feeling her head rush, a now entirely metaphorical term, as she directly assumed control of the ship, immediately overwhelmed by the multitude of senses and functions that she suddenly possessed. She was aware of every statistic, every reading, able to see from every camera, detective the conditions of every part of the ship, interior and exterior… And on her first go, it was all too much for her, and she quickly disconnected, gasping at the return to normal senses, even though she had no need to breath, or any kind of physical compulsion to do so.

And as she thought of physical compulsions, one important fact was brought to her attention.

"Computer, can I leave the ship? Can I walk in this form outside of the reach of the ship's hologram functions?"

" NO. YOUR HOLOGRAM IS RESTRICTED TO THE INTERIOR OF THE SHIP, AS IT WILL BE UNSUSTAINED ONCE IT REACHES THE EXTERIOR OF THE SHIP."

"Is there any way I can leave the ship then. Any way at all?" Samus asked, desperate for something good about her new form beyond the confines of her vessal.

"You may interface with your power suit, which would allow you to use it as a surrogate body, once the appropriate modifications have been made."

"Do them now." Samus said. Well, with her power suit, she could at least go outside, and maybe continue her career as a bounty hunter. While she could never go outside without it, she was alive, and she reminded herself of that fact whenever she saw a downside of her Data form. That was the important part of all this, she thought, the fact that she still had so many of her old options available to her. She could move, she could act, she could communicate, and most importantly, she could live.

--
In the eastern quadrant of a far off galaxy, a man stood in a docking bay, waiting for someone to arrive. This man was Officer Matthew Johnson of the G.F.S Champion battleship, of the 452nd fleet of the Galactic Federation, and he was currently waiting for Samus Aran, the Federations top bounty hunter to arrive. Normally, he would be a room away from the docking bay, but Aran had requested that all of her mission briefing and discussions take place as close as they could be to the docking bay where her ship would land. This was highly unusual, but the Federation didn't mind, thanks to her almost flawless record with them, and the massive contributions she had made to them in various areas.

Right now though, he was going to meet Miss Aran for the first time, and was currently thinking about some of the things he had heard about her, like the fact that she was very elusive outside of missions, and was never seen outside of her signature orange armour. Right now though, as Samus' ship began to land in front of him as she arrived, he focused on remaining professional, since the Federation was trusting her with yet another important mission. He watched as Samus emerged from the ship, and made her way towards him, himself saluting as she stopped in front of him.

What followed was a fairly standard series of explaining the mission, its term, and her contract and payment. Towards the end of it though, he found himself drawn to her green visor, and at the risk of being detected, he stared into it slightly harder than normal, hoping for a glimpse at her face, and oddly, found nothing, like there was nobody inside of the suit, or she had thicker than usual materials on her visor.

Either way, he found the effect slightly disconcerting, and was glad when their meeting was over, and Samus quickly returned to her ship. He walked away, his job complete, putting his thoughts about her out of his head. After all, something like that could ever happen, not with the deep history of dealings she had with the Federation, right? Right?