A/N: This story takes place 60 years after the events of Alien: Covenant.

I was inspired by Covenant introducing LGBT characters into the Alien universe, so I'm continuing that tradition with this story's protagonist, a young gay man named Rian. I'm also continuing Ridley Scott's hypothesis that, this far into the future, a person's sexuality is no longer controversial. Reviews appreciated!


A meteor is coming to kill us.

Rian Watts was barely 21 years old and yet the thought didn't do much to alarm him.

Something streaked across the night sky, lighting his family's wheat field in a stormy, silver glow. That was where he spent most of his time, on that wheat field, on his mother's farm, on the forgotten ball of rock and soil and water that was Revenant-6. He was told, constantly, that his life was modest and hearty - he preferred to call it small and boring. He hadn't seen or done much of anything over the course of his short life.

Death by a big chunk of space rock didn't seem all that tragic to him.

Hell, it would have been the most exciting thing to happen to Revenant-6 since Weyland-Yutani colonized it.

But no, he was wrong. If it was a meteor it certainly wasn't a big one. When the great streak of silver disappeared over the small curve of the horizon, its impact was not apocalyptic. There was a great shudder that rippled through the farmlands that Rian felt in his bones, yes, but it did not crack the planet open.

And then silence. As if nothing had happened at all.

What the hell was it, then? An errant beacon? A satellite that drifted off course?

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he stood on the tips of his toes, straining to see beyond the stalks of wheat that obscured his view of the horizon. It would be dawn in a couple of hours. The other colonists would soon be abuzz with chatter of the mysterious crash landing just beyond the perimeter of their southern most outpost.

At least we'll all have something to talk about tomorrow, Rian thought as he headed back to his family's house at the edge of the field.


The next morning, Rian rode his bike to town. Well, calling the scant patches of low brick buildings a 'town' was generous. But it was a thing they did on Earth, so it was a thing they did here. (As an inquisitive child, Rian had heard those very words parroted back to him hundreds of times.)

He biked passed the town sign, standing tall and proud on the side of the road. It read:

WELCOME TO MEREDITH
"Et in tenebris nihil adolescit"
POPULATION: 200.

Meredith. The center of their colony. Named after some top level executive's daughter, because of course it was. Weyland-Yutani co-sponsored this little endeavor with Earth's government but their share was larger. Thus it was their logo, their policies, and their presence that littered this lonely little planet.

Zooming right by, Rian's heart skipped a beat. That population number needed to be changed. Last month, Revenant-6 suffered its first death. A tragic event, everyone agreed, and it triggered a wave of other firsts: Meredith holding its first funeral, Rian wearing his first suit, and Rian's mother crying for the first time in front of him. He cried too, hours later, after it was all over and he was alone in his room.

Once he arrived in the town square, Rian parked his bike and took in the early morning sky. The air was streaked with vivid purples, golds, and greens - a sight that was normal to him but never failed to draw bewildered comments from off-world traders or visiting company execs.

A bell rang, and just like that, the colony town came to life.

Rian had watched it happen hundreds of times before, but the mundanity of it still fascinated him: the atmo processor engineers lining up for coffee, the mechanics jostling as they compared their schedules for the day, the handful of colony kids laughing and screaming on their way to school. Like clockwork. Every single morning.

Speaking of routines, Rian thought as unhooked a satchel of freshly processed wheat from his bag. He dropped it off at the cafe as he'd done every day for as long as he could remember. He exchanged a smile with the owner, waved, went on his way. The same workloader operator by the same corner window with the same cup of tea offered the same friendly hello he always did.

Yup. Clockwork.

They were all decent, honest, and hard working people. But unlike Rian, they were happy with what they had and didn't long for anything more. He'd mention a desire to visit Earth to study history or maybe become a doctor in the Zet-Ret 2 region, only to get a patronizing chuckle in return.

"Oh, you don't wanna do that," they would say. "You were born on Revenant. We need you here."

Rian shook his head, trying to mask a sad smile that threatened to reveal his thoughts. He dreamed, oh he loved to dream, but it did him no good to wonder or wish. For better or worse, Revenant-6 would always be his home.

He just wanted to know when he would stop feeling like a stranger.

"Rian!" A woman waved as he exited the cafe. Tall and striking with a long mane of flame red hair, Nolea Ashford rushed across the street to fall in step with him. Her tailored suit and designer shoes stood out in the largely working class crowd. "I'm so glad I ran into you! How is your mother doing?"

Although she had a reputation for being the most personable of the colonial administrators, Rian's instincts had always told him to keep her at distance - albeit a friendly one. The administrators were the middlemen between Weyland-Yutani and the colony. Any hint of wrongdoing would be reported through them.

"Fine," he replied carefully. "I mean, you know, she appreciates everyone's condolences. But she just wants to keep working. Wheat doesn't process itself."

Nolea nodded, understanding. "She's always been a strong woman. We missed you both in last week's town hall, though it's completely understandable why you weren't there."

Rian stiffened and grasped for a new topic. Any new topic. "Did anyone from administration happen to see the crash from last night?"

Nolea's eyebrows raised ever so slightly. Her high heels click-click-clacked as they walked through the square. "You're quite the observant one."

"It was hard not to notice."

"It's already been brought to the attention of our security team. We're sending a couple of new arrivals out to survey the wreckage. Have you met them yet?"

"I don't think so."

When last month's supply dropship arrived, a few new recruits from the United States Colonial Marine Corps arrived with them. The USCMC was another institution in Weyland-Yutani's pockets, and their Marines were called upon to guard the company's most profitable colonies.

"Then you're in luck," Nolea said with a warm smile. She gestured further down the street where three Colonial Marines stood waiting, as stoic and powerful as knights. "Good morning, Captain Hawke."

The man she addressed snorted in response. "Are all the mornings on Revenant-6 as nauseatingly beautiful as this?"

Commanding Officer Hawke was a grizzled fellow with short, buzzed hair and the pale line of an old scar bisecting his forehead. In his 40s at most. The veteran of the trio.

Flanked on his left was an imposing woman with a dark brown complexion and intelligent, alert eyes. She didn't look that much older than Rian, but she held herself with a stoic confidence way beyond her years.

To Hawke's right was the tallest of the three - so tall Rian had to crane his neck to take him in. He was a chiseled man with hard, masculine features and a square jaw dusted with a short beard. Late 20s, early 30s at most. His piercing hazel eyes contrasted with his dark brown hair, which was somewhat longer than the average marine's. It suited his face. And then Rian realized, with a warm blush of attraction, that he very much liked this man's face.

Nolea took the three of them in with a welcoming smile. "I trust it's been a quiet morning so far, Captain?"

"Too quiet," the man snorted again. "I'm itching to get to that crash site before one of those wildcatters do."

Several colonists moonlighted on the side as scavengers, or 'wildcatters', who searched Revenant-6 for mineral deposits, soil and plant samples, and other things of interest to off-world traders. Wildcatting excursions were dangerous but they yielded huge paydays. Technically it was illegal, and the only real thorn in the security team's side.

Before the accident, Rian's father had been a wildcatter and even took him out on a few of the lighter trips.

"All in due time," Nolea replied. "I just wanted to introduce you all to one of Meredith's most enterprising young farmhands. This is Rian Watts."

She touched his shoulders and gently pushed him forward, as if presenting him for Best in Show.

The Marines eyed him neutrally. Rian never usually gave much thought to his appearance but he felt a very sudden rush of embarrassment. Always a gawky kid, he only recently started growing into his looks. Sharp cheekbones supported his slender face, full lips, and wide green eyes that forever looked like they were searching for something. His dark, wavy hair was a bit of a mess that morning. And every morning.

Rian was too self-conscious to call himself attractive, but the way some of the colonists' daughters giggled when he passed them on their way to school, well... it did make him smirk.

"Rian," Hawke gave a curt nod. "What do you do here, son?"

"Agriculture, sir. My family runs the wheat farm."

"Hard work?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hard work is good for a young man. Builds character. Isn't that right, Corporal Ellis?"

The tall bearded Marine lifted his chin, a slight cue of acknowledgment. His gaze held Rian's for a moment - the longest moment in the younger man's life - and then returned to his Commanding Officer. "Sir, yes, sir."

Nolea tucked a section of ginger hair behind her ear. "Captain, may I speak with you privately for a moment?"

"Of course. Rian, pleasure to meet you. Keep up all the good work you do here." He turned to address his charges, his tone hardening. "Corporal Ellis, Private Khanda. Meet me at the vehicle hangar in ten minutes or it'll be your hides hanging off the land crawler."

As the captain and administrator left, Rian couldn't help but notice an odd expression on Nolea's face. Something he couldn't quite place. Skepticism? Hesitance?

Or even fear?

Ellis and the other Marine, Khanda, eyed each other for a moment before he cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Rian."

"Yes, sir?"

A smile creased Ellis's beard. He didn't look as scary when he smiled.

"You don't need to sir me when the captain's out of earshot. Mind pointing us in the direction of the vehicle hangar?"

Rian almost smiled back. "I guess you guys haven't been given the lay of the land yet?"

"Nah. Admin didn't have the time to give us grunts a tour."

"I'll show you. It's not far from here."

Rian led the Marines through the rest of the square and up north. Paths had been created through the northern hills that flowed into another collection of outbuildings. But unlike the town square of Meredith, these buildings were purely functional, built to house equipment, terraforming supplies, and vehicles of all types and sizes.

"Is this your first colony assignment?" Rian enjoyed talking with the previous security teams, they had the best stories. Especially when they told him about the planets far beyond their system. Far beyond meager little Revenant-6.

"Nah, done a few already in the KG region." Ellis absently drummed his fingers against his chest armor. "But I don't mind, I'm a good ol' Marine. I go where I'm told."

Khanda didn't say anything. She actually hadn't said a word since Rian first met her. She seemed to be the strong, silent type.

Rian brought them to the vehicle hangar, a cavernous garage that made him feel like an insect. The tires and tracks of giant earth-moving and stone-grinding vehicles loomed above the three of them as they took in the mammoth space.

Khanda stopped to lean against the wheel clamp of an excavator. Her eyes briefly crossed Rian before they settled on her pulse rifle.

Okay, he thought. Not one for small talk. I get it.

He and Ellis walked at a leisurely pace through rows of machinery. This Marine seemed more approachable than his colleague, with a gentle giant quality to him. Still, he was a Marine, and there was an element of danger to his presence, as well as a certain safety in knowing he could handle anything without breaking a sweat.

Ellis caught his glance and Rian realized he was staring.

He forced his eyes to the floor, face red and flush. Rian hadn't noticed any of the other male colonists like this. Of course, none of the other male colonists had these rugged good looks or eyes so piercing and intense they made his heart stand still.

"I appreciate you showing us around," the Marine said, "Good to know the locals are friendly. Makes my job tougher to do if there's no cooperation."

"Revenant-6 won't offer you much of a challenge, I don't think."

"What do you mean?"

"You're right, everyone here's nice. And boring. Myself included. There's really nothing going on here."

Ellis surveyed the room, considering something. "There are worse things to be than nice and boring. Man, I've seen some colonies that would make your skin crawl. Consider yourself lucky there's only one gravestone in the cemetery."

Rian went cold suddenly. The feeling in his hands disappeared, replaced by a clammy sweatiness. "Yeah, I..."

The only gravestone in the cemetery belonged to his father. Meredith's one and only casualty. The reason the population count on the town sign was inaccurate.

"Lucky," Rian repeated. "Never thought of it that way."

He didn't think the Marine was trying to be glib or hurtful, but he also didn't know Ellis enough to share something so personal so soon. It would only embarrass them both.

"So what does a farm boy like you do for fun on a planet like this?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh..." The friendly question threw him. "When I'm not working I usually read, or draw, or browse the Earth archive."

"What about friends?"

"I keep to myself." Rian didn't get along with most of the other young colonists. His friends were the characters he read in old novels or the actors he watched in archive videos.

Ellis stared, curious, as if the younger man was a mystery he hadn't yet solved. "Doesn't it get lonely out here?"

Rian pressed his hands to the cold metal surface of a land crawler. He spent many a night in one, curled up in the backseat as his father drove him through the wilderness.

He exhaled slowly, pushing the memory out of reach where it couldn't hurt him. "I come into town every day to make deliveries and run errands for my mom. I see people. Talk to them sometimes, too." Jokingly, he added, "I'm not a hermit. Promise."

A slow smile from Ellis. "Glad to hear that."

Blushing again, Rian returned his attention to the land crawler. "Any chance I could hop along for a ride to the crash site? I saw the whole thing from the wheat field last night."

"Sorry, kid, don't think the cap would take too kindly to having a civilian on board."

"I could help you navigate the terrain once we're outside Meredith borders. I've explored everything at least ten clicks below the southern outpost. It'll be safe, honest."

Another man's voice, right behind them. "That's not up to you to decide."

Captain Hawke. Ellis snapped into position at the man's approach.

Both men were muscular and powerful where Rian was lean and slender, but still, he stood his ground. "I can handle myself, sir."

Hawke stifled a laugh. "No offense, son, but my pulse rifle weighs more than you do. Appreciate your sense of adventure and all that but you gotta leave the dangerous stuff to those of us who trained for it."

He patted the younger man on the shoulder, slow and condescending. "Stick with what you're good at. The colony's wheat supply isn't gonna turn itself into flour."

Shame flared in Rian's stomach, hot and unwelcome. Ellis looked like he wanted to say something but his lower rank kept him rigid and silent.

Hawke gestured to the hangar exit. "You made your way here. I trust you to make your way out."

In the face of the Commanding Officer's authority, Rian didn't have much choice but to comply. But as he left Hawke's line of sight, snuck behind Private Khanda and edged toward the land crawler nearest to the hangar's hydraulic door, a mischievous smile lit up his face.


"Visual feed established," Private Khanda announced as she smacked the side of the land crawler's video monitor. It sat between the driver and passenger seats and was a hunk of junk, just like the tin can of a vehicle the three of them rode in.

Ellis squinted from the backseat. He didn't have much leg room and the sight of his tall body stuffed into such a cramped space almost made Khanda crack a grin. Almost.

"I can't see shit. Knew I should've called shotgun. Are we at the crash site?"

"Just about, Corporal," Hawke called from the driver's seat. They'd been braving the unmanned surface beyond the southern outpost for close to twenty minutes. Nothing but forest surrounded them. "We got a visual on the crater yet?"

"Trees only, sir," she replied in her usual clipped tone, "But the tuner's got a ping."

Khanda adjusted her signal tuner, a piece of equipment she rigged herself to boost surrounding radial cues. It took people aback when they learned that communications was her specialty. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"It's a signal approximately 2 clicks away. In the vicinity of the crash."

"Report?"

"It sounds like a distress beacon, sir. A ship."

Ellis leaned forward. "Survivors?"

"Besides the beacon, it's quiet as a grave."

"Shit." He exhaled, deep and long. "Hope there's at least one living soul on board who can tell us what the hell happened."

Khanda could hear the tension and worry in his voice - she knew how much it killed Ellis to arrive at a mission when there was no one alive to protect. She recalled hearing why he enlisted in the US Colonial Marines Corps in the first place: he was tired of standing by while helpless people in dire situations had no one to defend them.

He may have looked rough around the edges but Ellis was a noble man, much more so than the average lunkhead Marine. Khanda respected him deeply.

Hawke steered them through a forest clearing. Just over a nearby hill, smoke vomited into the air, black and relentless. They were getting close. "It can't be a freight. Or anything bigger than a K-class ship. This place would be leveled to kingdom fucking come otherwise. Military shuttle?"

"I can't tell, sir. The beacon is using an aural pattern that's out of date with current military standards. Whatever this ship is, it's old."


Rian waited. He was good at waiting.

In the small, dark space of the land crawler's rear compartment, he heard and felt the telltale signs of doors opening and closing, followed by the bark of Hawke's commanding voice. Then footsteps, quick and hurried. And then silence.

He unfurled his slim body and felt around until his fingers closed on the trunk hatch. Easing it open, bit by bit, Rian squinted into the bright landscape of trees. When he was certain the Marines had gone, he slipped out of the land crawler and crouched onto the soft grass.

The forest looked familiar, they weren't too far off from Meredith's southern border.

Quietly, Rian crept from the rear of the vehicle toward the passenger side. The smell of smoke was overwhelming but his drive to discover just what the hell had dropped out of the sky the night before was enough to power through it.

The land crawler had stopped just inches before the crash site. Rian stood and stared in awe at a mammoth structure jutting out from the ground. A spacecraft. Torn and shredded as if it had been forced through a giant blender.

Holy shit, his mind thundered.

Fiery debris and waves of displaced soil surrounded him, giving the whole scene an eerie, apocalyptic stillness. The main structure itself was segmented and long, like one of those old skyscraper buildings Rian studied in the Earth archive.

It was so much to take in at once that Rian wasn't even aware that he began to stumble his way toward the wreckage. He'd never seen anything this huge before. Being dwarfed in size so effortlessly was both humbling and terrifying in a way that made ice shoot through every vein in his body.

He touched the bare metal surface of the structure with a shaking hand and realized he was staring at part of the ship's name.

Rian took a few steps back to read the lettering in full:

USCSS Covenant.