ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

ALIENS: NOT ALONE

Chapter 6: Express Elevator to Hell

The USS Sulaco sits in dock at Gateway Military Base, the docks hold countless ships, of numerous sizes and shades, all belonging to the US Military, which had only gotten larger in the last several decades. USS Sulaco sits patiently waiting for it's full compliment of more than a dozen marines, one android, a Wey-Yu rep, and a lone civilian analyst to arrive.

In the locker room of the ship the marines were beginning to file in, all with respective hangovers, all with subdued anger at having to return to "work" as it were several days early. However it wasn't all so bad to some of the marines, some like Corporal Mils had a different mindset, seeing that the colony they were going to was the same colony his twin sister was assigned to, his usually calm persona was replaced with a laser focus.

As he loads his belongings into his locker, his eyes catch the collage of family photos inside the locker, photos of him and his sister at birth, at their first day of school, at his graduation from Boot Camp, and his sister's graduation from College. The photos reminds him of happier times, though his parents were gone, he had recently gained a new family member or two in his case, his grandmother Ellen was huge and sudden addition to his life he never planned on happening, not under the present circumstances.

He now had an extended family to care for, and now he had a sister to save. His train of thought was interrupted by his squad leader Apone.

"You ready Stretch?" Apone asks

"You know I am Sarge." Mils answers matter of factly

"I know, but I know you've got family down on that colony...look Stretch I just wanna say stay frosty" Apone says nodding towards his young corporal.

Apone's attention is taken away from him as he takes notice of a woman walking around in the locker room placing a bag in a spare locker, her short brown hair, with a gray civilian jumpsuit covering her body. This immediately catches Mils' attention as his squad leader is rarely quiet, not for a long period of time anyway. He turns to look behind him and his eyes immediately catch on the woman in gray, his eyes widen slightly as his eyebrows raise themselves as his grandmother stands with a new haircut inside the Sulaco's locker room.

The presence of his grandmother is surprising considering the fact that though she has connections to the colony his squad is going to, she in the end is still a civilian.

"Wonder who Snow White is over there?" Apone says through his cigar.

"Think I have an Idea Sarge..." Mils says briskly walking over to Ripley as she puts a book into her locker.

"Out of all the ships in the fleet you had to walk into mine" Mils says trying to act smooth, Ripley turns around in surprise as she sees her grandson Christopher before her in his marine attire.

"Christopher? What are you doing here?" she asks

"Well my unit was the only one available...so it looks like we're on our way to LV-426. Which begs the question Ellen what are you doing here?"

"I've been... encouraged to come along by Weyland Yutani, whether I trust them fully isn't important...we both need answers...we both have family down there!" Ripley states

"Yeah...Ellizabeth...she's sharp, very resourceful, and as tough as they come...if anyone can make it through a possible insurgency it's her..."

"Insurgency?"

"Well that's what's suspected...at the moment anyway, there's been band of pirates and rogue government insurgents in that sector of space...best case scenario right now is simple, we swing in there and find that the planet's storms have cut communications or we're in for a fight"

"What about the warning she sent..."

"Higherups think she's been taken hostage...being forced to say what she said, or on the off chance she's not lying" Mils starts

"Then it's worse than the worst case scenario" Ripley finishes

"Yep..." Mils states under his breath, just then Hicks walks up from behind Mils slapping him on the shoulder, getting his attention, and making eye contact with the woman in front of his fellow corporal.

"Mils...we've uh got...briefing in five" Hicks says awkwardly as he nods at Ripley who tries to look anywhere else.

"Right...Ellen...I'll see you before we go into the ol' freezerinos" Mils says with a smile, using an old slang term for the cryochambers, him and Hicks briskly walk back towards the briefing area of the ship.

….

Hicks and Mils enter the briefing room of the ship with Apone and Gorman already looking over a layout of the colony.

"Glad you two could finally join us" Apone says sarcastically.

"Let's get started Apone...this is the colony or at least this is what it looks like at the moment..." Gorman explains

"It's divided into several areas, with housing on the western half, working and docking sectors to the south and east, with a security HQ next to the operations center, there is a medical building nearby also located in the center...many of the buildings in each sector are connected together by a tunnel system above ground" he continues

"Operations is the primary control hub so to speak, most likely if insurgents have taken over the colony, that's where they might be directing the flow of the colony..." he states before being interrupted by Apone

"Sir? We still sure that the colony is dealing with insurgents? The message stated a form of hostile organism...this could be a bug hunt..." Apone suggests, Gorman sighs an answer soon after.

"Noted Apone...Command thinks that if it's insurgents...they might be using hostages to record bogus messages..." Gorman suggests

"Sir...if I may...I know my sister, she wouldn't read off of some sort of script written for her, she would have put some sort of hidden message within the distress call...I think this might be a legitimate bug hunt sir..." Mils adds

"If it is we'll deal with it...if not and insurgents have taken over...than..." Gorman says

"Than we're walking into trap..." Hicks finally says as the gravity of the situation finally dawns on them.

"Regardless...we need a plan...now in situations like this...the plan is pretty simple divide and conquer" Gorman explains, looking over the overlay of the colony.

"We can send a squad to investigate the housing units, and another can take the garages..." Gorman says

"Sir...they could pin us down and separate us from each other, they might have strength in numbers..." Mils points out

"Noted..." Gorman replies

"My bet's on taking operations first, using it as a base of operations for investigating the rest of the colony, we can also look into Medical, as it's literally right down the hall." Apone says preparing a spare cigar for the cryochamber.

"I agree sir..." Hicks says

"Same" Mils adds

"Very good...than it's decided we take operations first...we'll brief the squad when we're above the colony...till then it's SOP till we go cryo….questions?" Gorman asks as no one replies.

"Dismissed!" he finishes as the commanders disperse.

….

The Sulaco prepares to jump to FTL travel, with the squad and advisors getting into their cryochambers. Mils walks up to Ripley who is getting into her sleeping attire.

"Ripley before we hit the hay….I wanna give you something" Mils says handing a photograph to his grandmother. It's a picture of Ellizabeth her granddaughter, she looks unsurprisingly like her daughter Amanda, a determined stare behind a kind smile. Ellen tears up a little bit at seeing the young lady before her in the photo.

"She reminds me of your mother….she has her eyes" Ellen says lightly.

"Yeah she inherited my mother's nerve and my father's attitude" Mils points out

"Yes….she's definitely a Ripley" Ellen says, Apone soon walks over.

"Excuse me Stretch…but you and the Civi are gonna have to play catch up later…..WE'RE FTL IN FIVE PEOPLE LET'S GO!" he say annunciating the final statement walking towards his Cryochamber.

"Alright Ellen…I'll see you in a few hours" Mils says with a smirk, as Ripley moves towards her cryochamber, as Burke and marines do the same, after a few minutes the Sulaco jumps to FTL travel, as the ship full of marines heads towards the isolated colony of Hadley's Hope.

After a few weeks of FTL travel, the Sulaco arrives above the planet of Archeron. The inside of the ship is untouched by the travel, the weapons and armor sit ready to go, the ship's on board computer comes to life, with the full manifest of the marines and the two civilian advisors. The lights of the ship turning on, and the cryochambers activating. Finally, the cryochambers come to life with the lids opening, and the occupants waking up, all of them grumbling about having to wake up.

"They ain't paying us enough for this mess man…" Drake mumbles holding his neck

"Not enough to wake up to your face Drake…." Dietrich replies, which earns a nasty look from Drake.

"What….was that a joke?" Drake asks

"I wish it were…." Dietrich replies, Drake looks over to both Mils and Hicks

"Hey….Stretch, Hicks you both look like I feel" Drake jokingly says

"I guess that means you feel amazing right Drake?" Stone replies jokingly, winking at Mils which makes the corporal blush a little. Apone meanwhile has grabbed his cigar and snaps right to his leader bravado.

"Alright sweethearts what are you waiting for breakfast? It's another glorious day for the Corps, a day in the Corps is like a day on the farm, every meal's a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade, I love the Corps!" he yells causing much of his marines to cover their head in annoyance. When he reaches Hudson and Frost, he annunciates the word "Corps".

"Ah God Sarge please!" Frost mumbles covering his head and resting it on the lid of the cryochamber, Hudson meanwhile is hopping up and down lightly off the floor.

"Man this floor is freezing…" Hudson whines

"What do you want me to fetch your slippers for ya?" Apone asks sarcastically

"Gee would ya sir I'd like that?" Hudson replies with equal sarcasm, Apone removes the cigar from his mouth and pulls down the bags under one of his eyes.

"Look into my eye…" Apone says with a deep voice, as he moves down the line towards Crowe and Wierzbowski, meanwhile Vasquez is partaking into some pullups near Hudson and Drake.

"Man it feels like we we're in Miami yesterday…." Drake mumbles

"Hey man Yesterday was only three weeks ago…" Hudson says slapping him on the shoulder, Vasquez continues her workout, Hudson glances up at his squadmate.

"Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?" Hudson asks she Vasquez jumps down.

"No have you?" she replies with a smirk, causing a laugh from several squadmates. Drake and Vasquez meanwhile grip hands.

"You're just too bad…" Drake says with a smirk which earns a light slap by Vasquez. Spunkmeyer and Frost are meanwhile going at.

"Hey, hand job, you take my towel?" Frost accuses

"I need some slack man…how can they send us straight back into after, only a few days of shore leave…" Spunkmeyer replies

"Well you got three weeks…" Hicks says walking by.

"Cryo doesn't count…" Spunkmeyer responds.

"Hey Top? Any idea why we got selected for this shit?" Dietrich asks

"Ya'll know it's way above my paygrade" Apone answers, Vasquez meanwhile takes notice of Ripley.

"Hey Ferro….who's Snow White" Vasquez asks as the pilot of the dropship walks by yawning, putting on a shirt, referring to the pale skinned Ripley, Ferro looks over.

"They say she's some kind of consultant…..supposedly she saw an alien" Ferro says laughing to herself

"Well woopy fucking doo…hey I'm impressed" Hudson says jokingly, Mils walks over at that point.

"You guys ready?" Mils asks cracking his neck

"Don't worry about it Estirar…we're all good, lock, loaded and ready to kick ass

"Yeah….besides I don't think you have to worry about us" Hudson points out referring to Ripley, Mils looks over toward her with a sigh, hoping his grandmother will be able to maintain her composure during the mission.

"I think she'll be fine…she's my grandmother after all" Mils says walking away with the group being left speechless

"That explains why he's a little on edge…" Ferro points out, with everyone silently nodding, Stone takes notice walking up with yawning.

"Who? Chrissy? I mean Stretch?" She asks quickly correcting herself.

"Yeah...you might need to help him out aye Sparks?" Hudson says elbowing her lightly

"Umm..." Stone mutters, Vasquez grabs her little sister from another mister, wrapping a protective arm around her.

"Hey don't worry about it Hermana...I'm sure you'll get your chance to sweep him off your feet" Vasquez

"Thanks Vas...like you and Drake right, or did you fall for him first?" Stone asks lightly joking, as Vasquez puts her in a headlock as the group prepares to grab the first meal they've had "literally" in weeks.

….

The squad chows down on the relatively decent food that the Corps has provided, Hudson walks gladly over with a full plate in hand sitting down next to Apone and across from Hicks, Mils and Frost, though technically the whole squad is part of one whole table, their commanding officer Gorman along with Ripley, Burke and Bishop (unknown to Ripley the squad's synthetic).

"Hey Top? What's the Op?" Hudson asks

"It's a rescue mission you'll love it...there's some lovely colonist daughters who need to lose their virginity" Apone responds getting a laugh from the squad.

"Dumb ass colonists..." Crowe mumbles, as Spunkmeyer throws his cornbread in disgust.

"Man what's this crap supposed to be?!" Spunkmeyer asks

"Cornbread...I think" Frost responds, with Stone doing finger quotes mouthing the word "cornbread"

"It's good for ya boy eat it!" Hicks lightly orders

"Yeah we don't our little Spunky Meyer not growing up to be as big and strong as Ferro" Mils jokes slapping the pilot and mechanic on the backs in a light hug.

"Fuck you..." Spunkmeyer says rolling his eyes, while Ferro laughs through her food.

"Hey Hudson...wouldn't mind having more of that Acturian poontang...ya hear me?" he asks his squadmate who laughs with a high five in response.

"Yeah, but the one you had was male..." Spunkmeyer adds

"Doesn't matter if it's Acturian man" Frost responds, Bishop meanwhile is handing out more cornbread, Hudson than holds out his knife for Bishop

"Hey Bishop? Knife trick? Come on you gotta!" Hudson asks and eventually pleads with Bishop looking almost annoyed, however when Bishop lays his hand down on the table for the trick, Drake sneaks up and forces Hudson's hand on the table, Bishop places his hand on top of Hudson's.

"Hey hold on a minute man!" Hudson pleads

"Hold still" Bishop says completely calm, as he begins the knife trick

"Hicks ten bucks he cuts Hudson..." Frost silently says to his fellow corporal

"Twenty he doesn't" Mils says, having some experience with synthetics, the pair of marines place money on the table, as the trick commences, with Bishop going in between both his and Hudson's fingers with the blade of the knife, going faster and faster, with Hudson screaming much to the enjoyment of the squad, finally he stops suddenly, with Hudson painting his eyes finally going bug eyed.

"Thank you." Bishop says politely handing Hudson back his knife, with Drake handing the tray of Hudson's food back to him, with a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"That ain't funny man!" Hudson says

"Thank you, sir!" Mils says receiving Frost's twenty dollar bet, meanwhile Bishop brings the spare cornbread to the "civilian table".

"Lieutenant Gorman? Mr. Burke?" he asks as both Burke and Gorman thankfully accept, meanwhile Hicks takes notice of the Lieutenant's treatment of the squad so far.

"Looks like the new lieutenant's too good to eat with the rest of us grunts." he says

"Yeah, boy's definitely got a corncob up his ass" Frost says under his breath, meanwhile Bishop lets a drip of white synthetic blood drip from a cut on his finger.

"I thought you never missed Bishop?" Burke asks, Ripley becomes alarmed when she sees this.

"You never said anything about an android being here! Why not?" Ripley asks with anger. Burke looks shocked and surprised and sighs a response.

"Well, it didn't occur to me. It's been policy for years to have a synthetic on board"

"I prefer the term "artificial person" myself. Is there a problem?" Bishop turns asking Ripley.

"A synthetic malfunctioned on her last trip out. Some deaths were involved." Burke says glancing over the events on the Nostromo involving Ash the ship's synthetic.

"I'm shocked...was it an older model?" Bishop asks

"Cyberdyne Systems 120-A/2"

"Well, that explains it. The A/2's were always a bit twitchy. That could never happen now with our behavioral inhibitors. Impossible for me to harm or, by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being... more cornbread?" Bishop explains offering the tray which Ripley slaps out of his hand getting everyone's attention.

"You just stay away from me, Bishop. You got that straight?" Ripley yells

"Guess she don't like the cornbread either..." Wierzbowski says, with Mils and Ripley exchanging glances from a far, with Mils asking, "You good?" with Ripley answering silently "It's under control".

….

The squad fans out into the hanger, all partaking in some sort of activity, Spunkmeyer and Ferro talking about the dropship, Dietrich and Frost going through some hand to hand combat exercises, and Hudson surprise surprise, leafing through a porn magazine. Ripley and Burke slowly follow Gorman who gets Apone's attention.

"Squad, ten-hut! Officer on deck!" Apone orders as the squad snaps to attention.

"As you were" Gorman says removing his cap rubbing his newly shaved head.

"Quickly quickly, settle down! Alright listen up!" Apone orders as the squad gathers in front of their CO.

"Morning Marines...I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief before we left Gateway, but..." Gorman begins, before Hudson interrupts him with question

"Sir?" Hudson asks holding his hand up like a child laying on chain.

"What is it Hicks?" Gorman replies clearly annoyed already.

"Hudson sir...he's Hicks" Hudson replies looking towards Hicks who lights up a cigarette

"What's the question?"

"Is this going to be a stand up fight sir, or another bug hunt?" Hudson finally asks

"All we know is that all contact with the colony has been lost, it could been insurgents, but another possibility is that a xenomorph might be involved." Gorman explains, but once again is interrupted by another marine this time Frost

"Excuse me sir a what?"

"A xenomorph..."

"It's a bug hunt..." Mils silently replies

"What exactly are we doing here?" Hicks finally asks

"Ripley..." Gorman says encouraging the woman to step forward.

"Umm...I'll tell you what I know...We set down on LV-426. One of our crew members was brought back on board with something attached to his face, some kind of parasite. We tried to get it off. It wouldn't come off. Later, it seemed to come off by itself and die. Kane seemed fine. We were all having dinner, and, um, it must have laid something inside his throat, some sort of embryo. He started-Um, he-" Ripley struggles to recount the events of the Nostromo's demise, and is mercifully interrupted by Vasquez.

"Look man...I need to know only one thing...where...they are..." Vasquez asks forming a finger gun with hands, firing off a few shots, before receiving hi-fives from the squad around her.

"Yo, Vasquez. Kick ass. Anytime, anywhere." Drake says with almost admiration of his "friend".

"Right, right. Somebody said "alien." She thought they said "illegal alien" and signed up." Hudson says with a joking manner.

"Fuck you, man. Anytime, anywhere." Vasquez responds

"Are you finished?" Gorman asks

"Right...I hope you're right I really do" Ripley honestly says

"Okay...thank you Ripley...there are disks which you all should look at...before we drop" Gorman states as Ripley walks behind him, but she soon walks back up to hammer in the point.

"Because just one of those things managed to wipe all but one of my entire crew in less than 24 hours, and if the colonists have found that ship, then there's no telling..how many of them have been exposed. Do you understand?" Ripley yells being as serious as possible, the marines seem thrown back and almost remorseful at what Ripley had experienced, Mils himself was shocked, he had seen the soft side of his grandmother, but this was her business side. Gorman respectfully regains the initiative of the briefing.

"Anyway...it's on disk...any questions?" Gorman asks, Hudson raises his hand again.

"Sir...how can I get out of this chickenshit outfit?" Hudson asks getting some laughs, but receives a quick retort from Apone

"Secure that shit Hudson!" he yells, Gorman finally has had enough.

"Alright listen up...Now listen up. I want this thing to go smooth...and by the numbers. I want D.C.S. and tactical database assimilation by 0830. Ordinance loading, weapons strip and drop-ship prep details...will have seven hours. " Gorman orders, with the marines all acting shocked at the large list of things they now had to do, in a relatively short amount of time.

"Fuck me..." Mils says

"Later..." Stone jokes to herself, which Vasquez hears smirking to herself.

"Get it done people!' Gorman yells marching away.

"Well you heard him sweethearts!...and Hudson...come here...come here!" Apone orders as the squad moves to their prep positions.

….

"Alright...check it Sparks!" Ferro yells over the roar of the engines as Stone tests the dropship's diagnostics, suddenly a bang is heard from the engine, with debris hitting Stone.

"Oh turn it off... turn it off!...turn it off!" Ferro yells rushing towards her ship, with Stone now being covered in smoke and dust.

"Ugh...you never looked better Sparks..."

"How did I get stuck with this job?" Stone coughs a reply

"Spunkmeyer's on supply duty..." Ferro says pointing over towards Spunkmeyer whose using a power loader to lift massive crates into proper position.

"I don't care how short you are Hudson get it done!" Apone yells, walking towards Crowe and Wierzbowski.

"Sarge...you'll get lip cancer smoking those!" Hudson jokingly warns referring to Apone's cigar smoking, Apone eventually walks over to Hicks and Mils supervising the movement of supplies. Ripley looks around wanting to help, but not knowing if she can because of her license restrictions.

"Spunkmeyer? That's the last one right?" Mils yells over.

"Yeah...clear in back" Spunkmeyer yells moonwalking as it were in his power loader, Ripley walks up to the trio.

"Hi! I'm starting to feel like the fifth wheel here. Is there anything I can do?" she asks

"I don't know is there anything you can do?" Apone asks through his cigar laden mouth.

"I can drive that power loader...I have a class 2 rating"

"I don't know..." Apone mumbles

"Ahh come on Sarge...she's kin of mine after all" Mils says with a smile

"Alright, be my guest" Apone says motioning to the spare loader, the three men observe in surprise as Ripley uses the loader with ease, picking up a supply create and turning towards the trio.

"Where do you want it?" she asks with a smirk, which causes all three men to laugh.

"Bay 12 please" Apone answers

….

With the ship and dropships ready to go, the squad moves to prepare themselves and perhaps more importantly their weapons for the mission.

Frost prepares the M41A Pulse Rifle, the main weapon of use for all the marines for battle, along with incinerators as secondary weapons. Vasquez and Drake, being the two smart gun operators prep their M56's along with body harnesses and targeting scopes for combat, moving around with the heavy packs on to "wake up" their bodies.

Finally, the time had arrived for the squad to armor themselves up, with Ferro and Spunkmeyer already in the dropship going through final preps, Bishop drives the large and heavily armed/armored APC into position, with both Ripley, Gorman and Burke standing by.

In the locker room, the squad puts on their armor and helmets. Stone ties a black headband around her head, with the words "five feet of fury" written on the front, she looks over at Mils who seems perfectly calm and still as he stares at the picture of his family inside of his locker one more time.

"Hey...we'll find her Chrissy..." Stone says with a smirk as she applies eye black under her eyes like an athlete.

"Damn fucking straight..." Mils says hi fiving her, he then pulls out a revolver, that seems ancient, but has been kept up to date and well taken care of, which it should considering it belonged to his father.

"Man Stretch...I don't know why you bring that thing..." Hudson says from afar

"Family Heirloom...and this family heirloom can put a melon sized hole in a metal wall...so It'll do" Mils says spinning the revolver like a cowboy, before putting it into his pistol holster.

"All right, sweethearts. We're a team, and there's nothing to worry about. We come here, and we gonna conquer, and we gonna kick some. Is that understood?" Apone asks as he receives various testosterone filled replies. Vasquez and Drake exchange a chest bump of sorts, with a little hint of affection being shown between the two of them.

"Alright...let's go...Hudson get on the ready line Marine! Get some today!" Apone yells as the squad grabs their weapons and helmets and runs towards the ready line outside the APC, with Apone yelling the whole way, he marches down the line of marines.

"Ahh absolutely badasses, let's pack em in! Get in there!" Apone yells as he opens the APC doors, the squad files in storing their weapons and taking their assigned seats, as Burke and Ripley take theirs, Gorman takes his seat in the control chair near the front.

"Alright combat seating you know your places...lock em in Hudson!" Apone orders.

"You ready to get it on you know it!" Hudson yells locking the seats into place, so no one goes a flying on the ride.

"Okay Bishop let's go" Gorman orders ad Bishop moves the APC onto the dropship

"Roger" he replies, as the vehicle begins to move onto the dropship, Hudson locks the seats and hi fives Vasquez before locking Burke and Ripley's seats. He takes his seat next to Stone.

"You ready party girl?" Hudson asks like a big brother.

"Anytime Hud..." She says with a wicked smile and shockabra, Ferro meanwhile goes through her checklists over the radio

"Stand by. Cross-locking now. Prelaunch autocycle engaged. Primary couplers released. Hit the internals." She says as the dropship is lowered slowly through a open door into space, still attached to the ship.

"Confirm cross-lock and drop stations secured." she asks

"Confirmed. All drop stations secured." Gorman says as his chair is slid into place.

"Stand by. Ten seconds." Ferro mutters

"Stand by to initiate release sequencer... on my mark." Ferro says prepping her hand, and her body as Spunkmeyer takes a deep breath. Ripley makes eye contact with Hicks, and once again looks somewhere else in embarrassment.

"Five, four, three" Ferro continues

"We're on a express elevator to hell going down!" Hudson yells

"Two, one!"

"Mark..."