Chapter three is here, and is my favorite scene in all of Aliens, well this and the next chapter where they prepare and deploy. Just wanted to warn people, if anyone sees the name 'Ripley' in place of 'Ellie' or anything like that can you please point it out to me so I can correct it, (Its hard to write one character using the lines of another) Thanks for the reviews guys and I will answer any questions you may have or ideas you may have.
That nerd next Door: Thanks mate, and don't worry there will be more types of dines than just the V-raptor
Quintian: Cheers :) But I'm pretty sure its only the novel JP thats set in 1985, as all you can see the jeeps are 1992 model and a lot of the technology they use is from '93. Even in JP the game (Which is movie canon) they say the date (1993)
fang0: That's kind of the point, mate. Read 'Xenomorphic Park' and you'll understand what I'm doing here.
CHAPTER 3. UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
Four days later, on board the American aircraft carrier the USS 'Sulaco'
Ellie rubbed her eyes and groaned. Her watch read 6:02 AM, yet the sunlight still shone through the porthole, illuminating all those who slept inside the cabin. She didn't know whether it was worth going on this little trip, as they had made her sleep down in the troops' quarters; which stank of tobacco and gunpowder.
The room was dead silent, except for the sounds of soldiers snoring and waves sloshing up against the ship as it floated through the Pacific Ocean. Ellie managed to pull her head up and look around her. All the troops lay on their bunks and their lockers were lazily left open, and Ellie could make out several crude pornographic images in the locker that had the name 'Hudson' printed on it. She tried to remember the list of names she had received before she left.
LT. W GORMAN (COMMAND)
CPL. C FERRO (PILOT)
PFC. D SPUNKMEYER (PILOT)
SGT. A APONE (SQUAD LEAD)
PFC. J VASQUEZ (MACHINE GUNNER)
PVT. M DRAKE (MACHINE GUNNER)
CPL. D HICKS (ASSAULT)
PVT. R FROST (ASSAULT)
PVT. T WIERZBOWSKI (ASSAULT)
PVT. T CROWE (ASSAULT)
PVT. W HUDSON (ASSAULT/TECH)
PFC. L BISHOP (TECH/MEDIC)
CPL. C DIETRICH (MEDIC)
DR. E SATTLER (ADVISOR)
MR. C J BURKE (ADVISOR)
Ellie sat up in her bed and rubbed her face tiredly, and then suddenly noise broke out. The loud tune of a bugle played on the speakers and all of the sleeping marines groaned in unison. Ellie saw some of them rise up in their beds and start complaining. She noticed how the squad sergeant; 'Apone' stuck a cigar in his mouth as soon as he sat up and opened his eyes. More moaning broke out from the bunk next to hers.
"They ain't paying us enough for this shit." The marine known as 'Drake' commented as he sat up in his bed. Another woman in the bed next to his sat up and stroked her short, brown hair.
"Not enough to wake up to your face, Drake." 'Dietrich' said and Drake raised an eyebrow at her.
"What? Is that a joke?" Personally Drake found himself irresistible to the women. He then turned to his comrade and friend; Corporal Dwayne Hicks, who had just woken up and was combing his sleek brown hair.
"I wish it were." Dietrich said and cracked her knuckles.
"Hey Hicks, you look just like how I feel." He said and Hicks just shook his head.
Sergeant Apone then stood up and put his officer's hat on. Other than that he only wore a pair of light combat pants and his dog-tags. He clicked into gear, and started to normal morning routine for his squad. He clapped his hands and shouted out.
"All right sweethearts what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the corps! A day in the marine corps is like a day on the farm, every meal is a banquet, and every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade...I LOVE THE CORPS!" He said as he marched past all of the marines' beds. Most of the soldiers groaned from his ranting.
The marine known as 'Hudson' swung his legs over the bed and put his feet onto the cold, tile floor. He shivered and pranced about on his toes.
"The floor is fuckin' cold..." He exclaimed as Apone walked past. Apone stopped and faced him.
"Well what did you want me to do Hudson? Fetch you a pair of slippers?" Apone asked him sarcastically.
"Aw, gee sir I'd really appreciate that." Hudson returned the sarcasm. He was always the squad clown; cracking jokes at every opportunity.
"Look into my eye..." Apone said threateningly to him and Hudson chuckled.
Hudson then casually marched over to his messy locker, which was the end one and right next to the chin-up bar. Ellie watched the crude, joking soldiers and thought; are they serious enough to take on Isla Nublar? It didn't look like it. Ellie saw another woman on the chin up bar, but this one was different. She was extremely muscular, of Mexican background, and had such a look in her eyes that it would make even most men cower. She looked like one of those people that was 'government issued' rather than born. She got down off the chin up bar and flicked her head towards Ellie as she walked away.
"Hey, who's Cinderella?" She asked a friend of hers; Corporal Colette Ferro, who was at her locker.
"She's meant to be some sort of consultant...Apparently, she saw a dinosaur once." Ferro said and continued attending to her locker next to Hudson.
"Well whoopee-fuckin'-doo! I'm impressed." Hudson exclaimed and slipped on a grey USMC t-shirt.
He watched Vasquez as she fastened a red bandanna around her head. An idea for a wisecrack then swept into his mind.
"Hey Vasquez...Ever been mistaken for a man?" He joked and awaited the reply, but Vasquez was ready for it.
"No...Have you?" She responded, and the comment was met with laughter from all around the troops' quarters.
Her boyfriend, and fellow machine gunner Drake slapped her a high-five and looked into her eyes happily.
"You just too bad girl." He said and Vasquez gave him a hard, yet friendly slap. Hudson just nodded sheepishly.
Apone then ordered them over to the mess, and they all complied. Private Frost slipped on a grey t-shirt with a picture of a M16A2 assault rifle on it. The caption read: Peace through superior firepower.
"I hate this job." Frost muttered to himself as Apone ranted and raved.
Ellie joined the others in the mess and took a seat next to Burke (The only person she felt comfortable with) at a separate table to the rest of the soldiers. Lt. Gorman and another man in a blue shirt soon joined them. Ellie just poked at the nasty breakfast as everyone ate, but some of the marines noticed the relatively low-quality food.
"Aw, now what's this crap supposed to be?" 'Spunkmeyer' said and spat something out.
"Corn bread, it's good for you boy, eat it." Hicks told him.
Hudson then joined them at the table and turned to Apone, who was sitting opposite him.
"Hey sarge, what's the op?" He asked him, enquiring about their mission.
"Search and Rescue. There's some juicy InGen girls we gotta rescue from their virginity..." Apone chuckled and the men laughed with him.
Ellie couldn't believe these guys, how were they supposed to even threaten the dinosaurs if this was how they behaved? They needed a serious attitude change if they were to stand a chance, but then again, maybe they were just that more sure of themselves that they felt they could screw around. Ellie tried to ignore them as they laughed and caught up on good times.
"Looks like the new lieutenant is too good to eat with the rest of us grunts." Hicks said under his breath to Frost.
"He's definitely got a corn cob up his ass." Frost added quietly.
Meanwhile, Ellie picked at her breakfast and watched the person sitting beside her. He looked slightly older than the other marines, had brown hair and a blue shirt. He was furiously typing on a laptop, and Ellie noticed what he was doing. Console commands. Suddenly Hells Bells broke out on the ship's speakers and the men cheered. Ellie felt her jaw drop; he was a hacker.
"WAY TO GO BISHOP!" Hudson cheered and flicked his hair back and forth to the song. He had just hacked the aircraft carrier's sound system.
"Burke you never said anything about a hacker being on board!" Ellie complained. She knew it was one of those guys that could change everything almost instantly, especially with mankind's growing dependence on computers and automation. He could mean life or death.
"Is there a problem?" Bishop asked politely.
"Well you see...One of the IT guys on Isla Nublar, 'Dennis Nedry', had loyalty issues...and a few deaths were involved." Burke told Bishop.
"Oh, I'm shocked...Where did he graduate from?" Bishop asked.
"Cambridge I think." Burke said.
"Well that explains it then, the Cambridge geeks always were a bit...cheap to say the least. I am under orders not to use computing abilities for anything other than the purpose of the mission or in this case... just a bit of music. Are you sure you don't want some corn..." Bishop said and offered Ellie a tray of cornbread.
She hit the tray out of his hands and it clattered to the floor, making a loud sound and a mess. Bishop was stunned and all the marines turned their heads to face her.
"You just stay away from me Bishop!" Ellie yelled at him.
"I guess she don't like the corn bread either." Frost commented.
Ellie found herself sitting around for the next hour, bored. She watched the marines snap into action; practicing close quarters combat with each other and exercising. But they still managed to enjoy themselves with the odd joke around the place. Gorman then stormed into the room with Apone and gestured for Ellie to come with him.
"ATTENTION! Fall in people, quickly, quickly." Apone ordered his troops. Gorman then stood in front of the group of casual soldiers and looked them over.
"At ease. Good morning marines, I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief you before we left San Diego but.." Gorman started but was interrupted by Hudson.
"Sir?"
"Yes Hicks?" Gorman said, not knowing who was who.
"Name's Hudson sir, he's Hicks." Hudson said and flicked his head in Hicks' direction.
"What's the question?" Gorman asked angrily.
"Is this going to be a stand-up fight sir? Or another lizard hunt?" Hudson asked with a smart-ass grin on his face.
"All we know is that there's still no contact with the recovery team on Isla Nublar, and that a creature of prehistoric nature...may be involved." Gorman announced and Hicks whispered to Hudson.
"It's a lizard hunt." Hicks whispered to him then faced Gorman.
"What exactly are we dealing with here?" Hicks asked, more serious this time. Gorman nodded at Ellie, signaling it was her turn to do the talking.
"Well I'll tell you what I do know. Try to imagine yourself on Isla Nublar; you get your first look at this 'lizard' as you call it Mr. Hudson, when you enter a clearing. He moves lightly, bobbing his head like a bird. Now you keep still because you think his visual acute is based on movement like T-Rex, he'll lose you if you don't move...but not this type; 'Velociraptor'. You stare at him, and he just stares right back." Ellie preached, repeating the same words her mentor had said all those years ago. Vasquez just rolled her eyes and became increasingly bored.
"That's when the attack comes...Not from the front, but from the sides, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Velociraptors are pack hunters you see, they use coordinated attack patterns and..." Ellie tried to finish, but was cut off by Vasquez, who finally broke her silence.
"Look man, I only need to know one thing; where...they...are! Anytime, anywhere." Vasquez said confidently and mimed shooting a pistol with her gloved hands. Behind her, Hudson smirked.
"Right...Someone said dinosaur, she thought they said illegal dinosaur and signed up!" Hudson joked rudely at her ethnicity.
"Fuck you man!" Vasquez snarled and showed him her middle finger.
"Anytime, anywhere." Hudson offered jokingly and Ellie almost lost her cool at the lack of respect before nature here.
"Are you finished? I hope you're right...I really do." Ellie said and started to walk away from the group. Gorman then started talking again.
"Anyway, we have hard copies of the report Dr. Sattler has made on some animals we may possibly encounter I suggest you study it. Are there any questions?" Gorman said and of course, Hudson put up his hand with a big cheesy grin on his face.
"Question?"
"How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?" Hudson asked, with no respect for the new, inexperienced lieutenant. Gorman scowled at him.
"YOU SECURE THAT SHIT HUDSON!" Apone snapped at him, a little embarrassed at his troops' lack of respect. Even from Hudson he expected better.
"All right...Listen up. I want this to go smooth and by the numbers. I want DCS and tactical database assimilation by oh-eight-thirty. *troops groan* I want ordnance loaded, choppers prepped in seven hours." Gorman growled at the marines. They shouldn't have pushed him like that. If they wouldn't show him respect, he wouldn't show them any. More groans broke out.
"All right sweethearts you know the drill! ASSHOLES AND ELBOWS!" Apone yelled out, hurrying his troops up. As they went, he caught sight of Hudson about to join them in the 'simple' work. Apone was going to make sure the clown got something a bit harder to do than that.
"No! Not you Hudson...You get your sorry ass over here!" Apone snarled at him and Hudson walked over sheepishly.
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