Samus Aran, dispatched by the Federation to investigate the Space Pirate presence in the Bermuda System, first discovered a hint at a "strategic weapon" at the end of M07: Cauldron. She and the Federation Force later discovered that the Space Pirates were stockpiling a newly-discovered Liquid Resource from Excelcion and power cells from Bion, and combining the two to create a massively powerful energy source. They had also created size-increasing technology based on that used by the ancient Bion race.