I realized my chapter got messed up in the beginning and didn't notice until now. Sorry for the confusion. This is the corrected revision, everything is the same except the first paragraph. Sorry for the confusion. tends not to work well with me.
First thing Nicholas Brooks felt when he woke up from stasis was a bad headache. Nicholas hated stasis. It always made him groggy and gave him a splitting headache. "You okay, sweetheart?" Nicholas opened dark blue eyes to brown eyes looking down at him. He could feel her curly brown hair tickling the sides of his face. He smiled and tuck her hair behind her ear.
"I fine, baby. Just a headache. You know how I feel after stasis." She nod and helped him up from the stasis bed. He saw that he had been the last one to wake up.
"Ya, you always are the one who takes the beating of worst." She comb back his short curly brown hair and smiled. "Let's get some coffee." He nod, bending down to steal a kiss.
"I'm going to get dressed first. Meet you in there." He said as he kissed her once more. He headed down the hall to his room that he shared with Ripley. She went by her maiden name, in order for the crew to not get confused. Her name was now Ellen Ripley-Brooks, but she shortened to Ripley more often than not. Nicholas didn't mind though, he understood why she would do that.
He slipped a pair of dark green cargo pants and pulled on a black, long sleeved, cotton shirt on. He left the buttons undone, showing his chest slightly. He pulled on his boots, pulling his jacket on, and headed for the break room.
He walked in and slide into the seat beside his wife. He wanted nothing more to go home where his baby girl was waiting for her parents. Ripley and Nicholas had a daughter together, who was currently staying with Ripley's mother.
Nicholas sat down and wrapped an arm around Ripley. He kissed her temple and smiled. "Brett, you still with us over there." Nicholas smiled over at Brett, one of his best friends, as his other best friend, Parker asked him this.
"Right." Brett answered taking a sip of his coffee. Nicholas chuckled. Ripley stood up and got Nicholas a plate of food and coffee.
"You didn't have to do that, El, I could have-
"You half dead, figure I'd help." Ripley said cutting him off and causing Brooks to smile.
"Thanks, darling, makes me feel so much better." He said causing everyone to laugh.
"I feel dead." Kane said.
"You look it." Brooks said causing everyone to laugh. Ripley shook her head at Nicholas.
"Oh, yeah, right. I forgot something, man," Brooks looked over at Parker as he said this. "I just forgot something, man. Now before we dock... I think we ought to discuss the bonus situation." Nicholas rolled his eyes. "Brett and I think we deserve full shares.
"Brooks? What about you, man?" Dallas asked.
"Nah, unlike these two, I don't really care what I get, as long as it's money." Ripley smiled at her husband as he said this.
"That because you get two checks with that wife of yours." Brett said.
"I wasn't even thinking that." Brooks said with a cocky grin as his hand snaked it's way to Ripley's butt, which earned his hand a slap. He pulled away, rubbing his hand as the crew laugh.
"Keep that up and get my check is the least you get to touch." Ripley snapped. Brooks only smiled knowing she was joking.
"Look, Mr. Parker and I feel the bonus situation has never been on equitable level." Brett said.
Dallas gave a sigh and looked over at two of the three engineers. "You'll get what you contracted for, like everybody else."
"Yes." Brett said as the buzzer went off. "But everyone gets more than us, even Brooks without adding Ripley's check." Nicholas gave a shrug.
"I'm worth more." He said earning a glare for Parker.
"Dallas," I looked over to see Ash walking in. "mother wants to talk to you."
"Yeah, I saw it. Yellow light's for my eyes only." Dallas said sighing. Dallas stood up and grabbed his jacket. Before turning to Parker. "Okay, get dressed, huh? Parker let's go."
"Can I finish my coffee? It's the only thing good on this ship."
"Stop complaining about it and let's just get to work."
Nicholas laughed at what Ripley said before standing up and following her out. "You know... the crew is father slow." Nicholas whispered in Ripley's ear as he shut the door to their room. "We have time..." Ripley gave a short laugh.
"Are you suggesting we waste time with each other." Ripley turned in Nicholas' arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"It won't hurt no body if we're little late. Come on, Ellie, we haven't had any other chances. This maybe our last chance before we head home, and no offense, but I doubt Amy will give us a time of day together with how much she'll be happy to see us."
"How am I supposed to say no to you?" He smiled down at her.
"You can't. You love me. That is where we fall." She smiled and pulled his head down.
"Just five minutes." Nicholas smiled and kissed Ripley, backing her up against the wall, his hands falling to her butt, where he pushed up, so her legs wrapped around his waist. He kissed down her neck and she sighed.
"You're going to be the death of me one day, Nikki."
Ellen smiled as she snuggled into her husband's warm embrace. He kissed her shoulder and smiled. "Not bad from being still out of it from stasis." Ripley laughed and buried her face into his chest.
"God it's a good thing I love you, Nikki." He smiled and kissed her.
"No, I'm lucky to have you in my life." He whispered. "I would be lost without you." She smiled before sitting up.
"I said five minutes. It's been half an hour. We're late." Nicholas chuckled and pulled his pants on.
"Sorry that it takes me more than five minutes to cum. Hell it takes me at least five for the foreplay. And you know I love foreplay." Nicholas whispered in her ear as his hand reached up to her chest.
"Nikki." She moaned. "We.. we gotta get up."
"But your so soft and-
"Nicholas." Ripley blushed. "Stop, we have work to do. " She pushed his hand back.
"You're such a spoilsport." He grumbled as he pulled his pants totally on and buckled them. He slipped his shirt over his head and stood. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get to work."
The two walked, hand in hand, out of their room and to the front of the ship. "We're not even back in the Milky Way, are we?" Nicholas asked as he walked in.
"Why would we be awoken before then?" Ripley asked.
"Contract Traffic Control." Kane ordered, looking over at the couple. "You two are rather late." He said with a knowing smirk. Nicholas rolled his eyes.
"Get your head out of the gutter, Kane." He said walking over and pushing him slightly. Kane laughed.
Ripley took the order Kane gave. "This is commercial tower vehicle Nostromo out of the Solomons... registration number 1-8-0-9er 2-4-6-0-9er... calling Antartica Traffic Control. Do you read me? Over?" Nicholas frowned as they received no answer. Ripley went and repeated herself, but nothing came in. "Nothing." She said sighing.
"Keep trying." Kane ordered.
"I found it." Lambert called. "Just short of Zeta 2 Reticuli. We haven't reached the outer rim yet."
"That's hard to believe." Kane said as he blinked at the screen.
"What the hell are we doing out here?" Nicholas asked with a frown.
"Did you set the route wrong?" Ripley asked.
"No." Lambert said with a shake of his head.
"That's not our system." Ripley called in a sing-song voice. Nicholas chuckled.
"I know that." Lambert sang back annoyed.
Brooks walked down towards his friends and partners. "You ever notice how they never come down here?" Parker growled. "I mean, this is where the work is, right?"
"The same damn reasons we get a half share to their one." Brett said looking over as Nicholas walked over to them. "Our time is their time. That's the way they see it. Same old shit, man. Hey, Nikki, glad to see you finally decide to show up."
"Don't call me that." Nicholas said as he started on work.
"Sorry forgot only Ripley calls you that." He said with a smirk.
"They don't come down here ever. You would think Ripley would come down for her honey." Brett said with a smirk toward Nicholas.
"Trust me she has come down here plenty of times." He said, smirking at the two of them, causing them to chuckle.
After a few hours of working on the ship, they were all called up into the kitchen. Nicholas ran his fingers through his hair as he walked in. Ripley was insistently by his side. "So, what's going on with the ship?" She asked.
"Well, some of you may have figured out we're not home yet." Dallas said. "We're only half way there."
"What?" Parker asked,
"Mother's interrupted the course of our journey." Dallas went on to say.
"Why?" Kane asked.
"She's programmed to do that, should certain conditions arise. They have."
"Like what?" Ripley asked.
"Seems she had intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. She got us up to check it out." Nicholas frowned, not liking this one bit.
"A transmission?" Ripley asked. "Out here?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of transmission?" Lambert asked.
"Acoustical beacon. It repeats at intervals of twelve seconds."
"Is it an S.O.S?" Nicholas asked.
"Don't know." Dallas answered with a shake of his head.
"Human?" Ripley asked.
"Unknown." Dallas shrugged.
"So what?" Parker asked. Kane turned and faced Parker.
"We're obligated under Section B-Two-
Parker chuckled. "I hate to bring this up, but this is a commercial ship, not a rescue ship." Brett nod in agreement. "It's not in my contract to do this kind of duty. You want to give me some money to do it, I'll be happy to." Nicholas frowned.
"You won't even be going off this ship, so stop whining about your damn money. So just it here and wait til I get back, will ya?" Nicholas said with a roll of his eyes. The guys stifled their laughs as Parker glared at Brooks.
"Can I say something?" Ash asked. "This is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated."
"I don't want to hear it." Parker spoke up. "I want to go home and party."
"Parker, will you just listen to the man." Dallas yelled.
"On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money." Ash finished.
"You got that?" Dallas asked as Parker stood shocked. Parker gave a nervous laugh. "All right, we're going in."
Nicholas nod and started getting ready. "Nikki." He turned as Ripley walked up to him. "Be careful, alright hun." He smiled down at her.
"Always, Ellen." He said giving her a crooked grin, but it didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around him. "Don't worry, sweetheart. You know I'll be careful for your sake."
"I can't loose you, Nikki, so be careful." He nod and gave her a kiss. She sighed. "Go. Don't keep them waiting."
"Don't miss me. I'll be back soon." With that he turned and headed off with the rest. Not knowing what he was walking into.