PROLOGUE

"Its biological perfection is matched only by its hostility. I admire its purity. A survivor… unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality."

- Ash, Science Officer, USCSS Nostromo

The floodlights turned on one by one.

Their blue beams of light cut through the dust kicked up by the passing supply convoy, gradually revealing the massive corporate logo plastered on the side of the facility's entrance – A large yellow and grey figure flanked by the words Weyland-Yutani and the ever-present motto: "building better worlds".

A stark figure in a glistening white lab coat stood next to one of the lights, staring up at The Company's symbol, his hands slightly in his pockets. He adjusted his glasses and turned towards the many gray trucks, all carrying seemingly monolithic containers on their flatbeds as they stopped before the facility's immense blast-door. He started towards the entrance as he pulled a small tablet out of one of the many compartments in his coat, looking towards his device before stopping dead in his tracks. The man slowly lifted his head towards one of the containers and contemplated the dangers held within – the large, black container was plastered with innumerable signs highlighting the same warning: Danger - Biohazard.

The man in the coat was Dr. Thomas Patterson, a senior research official at Weyland-Yutani's bio-weapons division, a cold and oftentimes neurotic man in his mid-forties who hid a passion for his work under layers of apathy towards his colleagues. He never seemed to get along with the rest of the scientists in the facility as he was viewed by them as an overly obsessive and sometimes misguided individual; on the other hand, he saw his colleagues as inept and underserving of their prestigious work in The Company. Patterson's tablet offered him the choice of whether or not to clear the cargo for entrance into the facility, which after a moment's hesitation, he did indeed clear, allowing the massive blast-door to part open and permitting the convoy to proceed inside.

Patterson followed and began closing the door as soon as the last truck had made its way inside. He took a last look outside before the door sealed itself shut, shrouding the large hangar-like interior in darkness. In a split-second, hundreds of white lights began to turn themselves on, revealing the pristine and orderly environment characteristic of a Weyland-Yutani facility. Patterson hated this dull and sterile style that WY engineers were so keen on. The sterility of the place always reminded him of disease, especially those of the mind, probably because of its similarity to mental institutions. A wave of uneasiness swept over him but he quickly brushed it off, he adjusted his glasses again and immediately stormed off into a side corridor that led towards his office in the bio-research wing.

Two guards armed with black M41A Pulse Rifles were observing Patterson from a catwalk, far above the facility floor. One of them had a wide grin on his face as he saw Patterson hurriedly rush into the corridor, "Hey Joe, what do you think that guy's up to now?" He asked the other guard.

"Can't say for sure Evan, he seems to be in charge of that shipment though. He's got the clearance codes and stuff."

"He's in some awful hurry, you'd think he'd have a heart attack by now from how tense he seems all the time." Evan said with a chuckle.

Joe leaned against the catwalk's railing and let out a sigh, "Y'know, it's none of our business what they do in those labs, they don't pay nearly enough for us to care."

Evan's grin turned to worry, "Hey, those containers always have biohazard warnings all over them, what if they mess up with containment of whatever virus they have in there? Pay or no pay, we get affected too."

Joe shrugged and shook his head slowly, "I don't know man, it is what it is. I'd rather be working for Weyland than for Seegson any day though. You heard about what happened at Sevastopol station?" He asked.

Sevastopol was a large mining station in orbit around KG-348 built by Lorenz SysTech to serve as a freeport and potential mining station to harvest the rich mineral resources found in the gas-giant. Lorenz SysTech built it with the belief that the station's fortunes would be secure thanks to the Sol-Thedus flight path which would have brought many mining and cargo vessels to do business with the station. However, the station began to enter a long decline as the Sol-Thedus flight path was redirected thanks to economic fluctuations between the colonies, leaving the station without business and with a fluctuating trade influx. The station was eventually sold to Seegson who believed they could revitalize the station as a cosmopolitan beacon in the Zeta Reticuli Sector. Failures in competition with companies such as Weyland-Yutani led to further decline after a decade of prosperity under Seegson. Eventually, the station was put on the market once again by Seegson in order to recoup their losses, but no corporate entity showed any interest. Seegson executives, having given up on the station, decided to begin the decommissioning process which eventually led to several catastrophic failures on board, resulting in the once pristine mining station plunging into KG-348's atmosphere, never to be heard from again.

"Yeah, I heard the station literally fell from the sky and burned up on the gas giant's atmosphere, must have been thanks to those cheap knock-off Working Joe androids." Evan replied.

"I guess so. But Seegson isn't stupid and I've seen Joes in action. They might look pretty primitive compared to Weyland androids, but they get the job done. Function over form you could say."

Evan waved off the notion and gave Joe a questioning look, "C'mon man, that company could barely keep up with Weyland; they've been operating in the red for God knows how long."

"I don't think it was the Joes. Something else must have happened there." Joe said firmly. "Oh and, just wondering, how come you assumed that what's in those crates is a virus?" He asked, cocking his head sideways towards Evan.

"Oh I don't know, biohazard usually means virus or some kind of disease. Besides, I always see all those scientists in the bio-research wing usually working with petri-dishes and the like whenever I make any rounds down there. I mean, if not a virus, what else could it be?"