A/U: This one will be a bit longer, and I'm kind of proud of how I did with the dialogue. Warning: This chapter may contain boring and tedious details, but it's relevant to the story. Just to note, The Xenomorph existence is not a secret. Again, I would like to see if anyone can point out the cultural references I added. You can skip the next part if you don't care about my references in the last chapter.
Cultural References from the last chapter:
In the personnel roster, Atrus is the name of a character in the Myst PC game series. The serial number was the date the third, and best, game was released.(March 7, 2001) Next in the roster, Ellen Ripley was the main character in the Alien movies, and her serial number is the designation of the planet the aliens were first discovered on. The third name refers to Sargent Avery Johnson from the halo franchise, And his serial number represents his cause, Boom!, and year, 2652 of death. The third name refers to Spartan John-117, better known as the Master Chief. His serial number is his innitials, MC, and spartan number, 117. Also, Ensign lovell was another character from the halo Series. For originality sake, Kelly Sierra was my own character.
CHAPTER ONE
He moved quickly, striding down the hall in larger steps that echoed through the huge building. His movements were quick, agitated, yet still preserved some for of grace as he came to a stop in front of the conference room. Sargent Scott had always had an impressive poker face, and he used it know as he prepared for his first briefing on the new assignment. He pulled open the steel door to reveal several military officers sitting around the conference table, and an empty chair with a folder in front of it. He sat down nervously, and and waited for one of his superiors to acknowledge him.
"Sargent Ridley Scott, sixteen years as a marine, no education, no financial or military background. Is this correct." The man addressed him stiffly, reading the information from a folder.
"yes," he said, "it is."
"Despite that, you are a recipient of three purple hearts, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, and a Medal of Honor. Is this also correct?" He sighed in relief, the conversation was definitely taking a turn for the better.
"Yes, it is," He repeated his former statement. The man reading from his file nodded slowly.
"And do you believe this success to be largely do to your participation in the Titan program?" Definitely better. This was probably another review to see how efficiently the program was using it's over sized budget.
"I do. The advanced training and weaponry in the Titan program are the only reason I'm alive today, Sir." That aught to get them off Halsey's back. The General seemed satisfied. "Well, Sargent. I'm offering you another position with the program." Ridley was stunned. Brought back in? No one was brought back. Once they finished training the military unleashed them on the enemy. More than often he had been dropped in enemy territory with no instructions other than to deplete their supply of body bags, and he had always succeeded. Everyone in the program did.
"Brought back Sir? I thought the program was only an advanced training sector." Then another man at the table, and admiral, spoke up,
"It is, we're opening another branch, to train recruits in more," He paused searching for the right word, "unorthodox methods. We want to bring you in to help test the procedure, and to train the recruits in everything from the original course." In his mind there was no need for considering.
"I'll do it." The admiral chuckled,
"You may want to hear the details first. This particular program involves partner focused combat. A very special partner."
"Other recruits were always incorporated into the training sir, that's nothing new." He wondered if these officers had even read the program's case study.
"Not recruits, Sargent. Xenomorphs-" He put his hand up when Ridley tried to interrupt. "Please, just here this out. We've been working on genetically modifying them." He motioned towards the other end of the table. "Dr. Reed."
The only woman in the room stood up and turned towards a screen on the wall.
our initial intent was to make them less aggressive, so they'd be easier to study. We dramatically reduced the size and output of the pituitary gland, the part of the brain that controls hormones, and altering the temporal lobe to decrease aggressive or emotional behaviors." On the screen the Xenomorph brain appeared, and two sections outlined in red shrank back and changed shape, leaving a hole in the brain.
"Because of this gap," She continued, indicating the hole, "The Parietal lobe, the section of brain devoted to intelligence and logic, grew exponentially. " A section of the brain near the hole expanded, filling in the entire gap that the previous shrinking had left.
"We experienced tremendous results, mostly focused around problem solving. The Xenomorphs were solving logical problems that many humans would struggle with. Most of our tests would involve designing some sort of physical and mental puzzle that the Xenomorph had to think through. Because of their advanced senses and abilities. they seemed almost designed for the tasks we gave them. This change produced something even better, though. Their minds weren't capable of such thought, and most went insane." A video played showing several Xenomorphs running around randomly, smashing into walls and each other.
"Eventually a new mutation took hold, causing a swelling of the frontal lobe." The picture returned to the brain, showing one section of the brain enlarging, forcing another to shrink.
"This resulted in heightened intelligence, reasoning, memory, planning, decision making, judgment, and initiative. The only side affect was a decrease in already slight personality and emotion, and a slowing of growth due to the reduction of the pituitary gland. This proved to be useful in training them while they were young. With all these changes they have developed an... intelligence, that rivals our own." She seemed almost cautious in using the term intelligence. He leaned forward.
"So let me get this strait, you found the most dangerous species in the galaxy. Then you took our one advantage, superior intelligence, and stripped it away. And know you want me to train them? Fuck you." Dr. Reed seemed nervous about his response. The admiral cut in, "They are perfectly safe. Our reports say that-"
"We have experienced a few problems," Reed blurted. She continued more slowly, "A batch escaped, formed their own hive in the planets western jungles. A group of radical colonists interfered with the removal. The entire team died." he barked out a laugh,
"let me guess, SEALS? Of course they died, Should have run them through the program first. Suddenly the entire room was quite. A general in the middle finally addressed him,
"Not SEALS, Three Marines, a Xeno specialist, and... A titan. " That caught his attention. A titan dead? That would make the third one, in fourteen years of active service, on suicide missions at that.
"Real great motivator Doc. Tell me that not only have you created these abominations, but you did it so well that they killed a program graduate. I'm back in." That sparked some surprise around the table, but no one complained. Dr. Reed spoke up again,
"This program is attempting to train human soldiers to work with the Xeno's in isolated pairs, perhaps connected to a larger unit. You would of course be paired with a Xenomorph as well." he laughed,
"relax Doctor, you've already sold the product, you don't have to tell me the side affects." She glared at him, while the Admiral stood up.
"Thank you for your cooperation. We'll send you your official orders promptly, and have you sent to the facility next week." As he left, he noticed that there was one man in the room who hadn't said a word.
A/U: If you review, please tell me what you think of the concept. I only had the idea about the alterations to the Xeno's when I began this chapter, and came up with the entire 'program' and pairing them up as I wrote it. Explanation of this chapters references will be included in the next chapter. Please add your opinion about that as well. Should I keep doing this, or just leave you to discover them?