Disclaimer: Alien (1979) , Alien: Isolation, and all its characters are owned by 20th Century Fox.

The oc's (all two of them) were created by me.

Chapter 19: The Last Mile

Never in all her years has Amanda Ripley ever been considered squeamish, she had dealt with injuries all the time as an engineer, she had helped a few of her crewmates with some pretty bad dislocations and lacerations, but this...was different.

She wasn't trying to save the life of someone she worked with, it was someone she had shared the hell of Sevastopol with, someone she could count on to be there for her, to have her back, and in one case to take a bullet for her, he was the most important man in her life at the moment, someone she in all honesty felt something for, something real, something she didn't want to lose, there was no doubt in her mind, there was no way David Mils would die on her watch, he was going to live.

As he slid down the wall of the ambulance as it flew silently back towards Sevastopol, Ripley sprung into action catching him before he could reach the ground, holding him against her as his body felt limp in his arms.

"David!...David!...look at me!...look at me!" Ripley yells as she lays his body down on the floor of the ambulance, she checks his pulse, it's there, but the blood loss has her incredibly concerned, she takes a glimpse back at the blood stain his body has made on the wall.

"Fuck...you are not doing this! Not after everything!" Ripley says gripping Mils' body, she tries to contact Ricardo

"Ricardo, if you're there please answer!...Please!" Ripley yells trying to use the communication equipment in the ambulance to boost her signal, several critical minutes go by as Ripley tries to keep pressure on Mils' wound, her hands beginning to be covered in his blood a sight she can't help but look away from, suddenly Ricardo comes over the radio, faintly, but it's definitely Ricardo on the other end.

"Rip...Rip! You made it, scanners picked up an explosion, I'd thought you guys didn't make it..."

"We barely did...but we've still got problems, Mils...he's suffered a pretty bad stab wound...it went through all the way, I can't stop the bleeding...Ricardo? I need to know is there a surgery chamber nearby in medical?"

"Shit!...ugh no...I'm not seeing any that are operational...Rip there should be one on that ambulance, it's built into the floor!...there should be an activation console nearby" Ripley moves over to the control console and finds the activation controls, she presses a few buttons and a large panel of the floor slides open, the bed like structure rises from underneath, it looks like a smaller hypersleep chamber that are used on ships for space travel.

"Okay...Ricardo it's been a while since I've done this!...we need to hurry he's lost a lot of blood" Ripley says approaching Mils and the chamber.

"Well first thing's first, you need to clear the way for the chamber's surgical tools...you need to get rid of any clothing near the wound" Ricardo says, Ripley pauses a little at the thought of seeing Mils without a shirt on, she's snapped out of her trance by Ricardo who continues his instructions

"After that...you need to get him into the chamber...then the medical interface should take it from there" Ricardo states, Ripley goes through the task of getting the top half of Mils' jumpsuit unzipped and pulled down to his waist, she then prepares herself as she uses her knife to cut Mils shirt off his body, she tries to keep her sights set on getting the wet fabric off his body, it reveals a relativily...in shape...well defined torso...with abdominal, pectoral and arm muscles showing fairly well, Ripley couldn't help but admire the sight in front of her, that is until she got back into business mode and moved Mils into the chamber, she opens said chamber up with a push of a button, when it opens she struggles at first to move Mils into the chamber, but with more determination she finally rolls his body into it, once the lid closes she accesses the interface.

SV-G1 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SURGERY CHAMBER INTERFACE

MAIN MENU

PLEASE SELECT AN OPTION

1. AUTOMATIC SURGERY SYSTEM INTERFACE

2. CRYOGENIC CONTROL INTERFACE

3. PARASITE PACIFICATION INTERFACE

4. CHAMBER CLEANING INTERFACE

5. SELF DESTRUCT INTERFACE

[1]

YOU HAVE SELECTED AUTOMATIC SURGERY SYSTEM INTERFACE

PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE SURGERY REQUIRED AND IF POSSIBLE PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT PATIENT IN REGARDS TO WEIGHT/HEIGHT/AGE/GENDER

[SEVERE LACERATION APPROX-SIX INCHES IN LENGTH-PENETRATION ON BOTH SIDES OF LOWER RIGHT ABDOMEN-ORGANS MIGHT BE COMPROMISED]

[PATIENT ID: MALE-LATE TWENTIES-HEIGHT 6'2-WEIGHT AROUND 180]

PLEASE WAIT AS WE SCAN THE PATIENT FOR BEST SURGERY RESULTS...

SCANNING...

SCANNING...

SCANNING...

SCAN COMPLETE-SURGERY COMMENCING

Ripley backs away from the console as the chamber's automatic surgeons go to work, they first start by placing a mask upon Mils face to provide oxygen and nutrients, the metal claws and tools utilize a spray option to numb the area around his wound on both sides as he is tilted to the side to spray the other end, they then pour a liquid substance of some sort into the wound to repair any tissue and organ damage done by the metal chunk, Ripley looks on with slight horror and slight amazement as the medial equipment goes to work in record time with bubbling coming from the wound, once the bubbling subsides, the prods clean the wound with a device that looks like a paint roller of some sort, with the wound beginning to clot, the prods use medical staples to seal the wound shut, Ripley breathes a sigh of relief as the surgery comes to close, that is until she sees a small needle being pulled out by the mechanical surgeons, she looks at the interface as it has walked her through the entirety of the procedure now details the final step..."patient revival via adrenaline shot V-2", the chamber door opens up to avoid injury to Mils, then the shot of adrenaline is pressed into the arm, within a few seconds the adrenaline does it's job as Mils jolts to life sitting up in a yell of shock, agony and slight surprise.

Ripley immediately tries to get him to focus on her, by grabbing his face with both of her hands to calm him down.

"Hey! hey hey hey hey...David!...David it's okay...it's okay you're safe...you're fine...you're alright" Ripley states trying to get him to calm down

"Where are we?...Are we safe...did we make it off the Anesidora?" Mils asks, Ripley answers with a silent nod.

"Good...kind of blacked out...aww shit..." Mils says looking down at his properly sealed wound

"How?..."

"You passed out shortly after the Anesidora shockwave hit us, I used the ambulance's surgery chamber to help get you patched up...you had me worried, there was a lot of blood..." Ripley explains, Mils looks at Ripley's hands covered in HIS blood, and the wall and space around him painted with a similar stain

"I couldn't lose you...not after everything we've been through...about what I said on the Anesidora...I was scared, and tired and..." Ripley trails off trying to explain her pouring of emotion during Mils insistence that she leave him behind, she's interrupted in her rant by Mils who grabs her by the collar and pulls her down into a kiss on the lips, she reacts with shock at first, but returns the kiss with all the love and effort she could muster, after a few seconds Mils breaks the kiss and allows Ripley to catch her breath, she looks back at Mils with a shocked look on her face.

"What?...what the hell was that?!" She asks honestly wanting to know

"A thank you for saving my life Rip...you've had my back...all the way...that's three times now you've saved my life...and I've saved you three times...we're even now" Mils finishes as Ripley squeezes his shoulder and looks into his gray eyes, she begins to help him off the bed of the chamber, he stops her quickly though.

"Oh and glad to see we feel the same about things..." Mils says as he winks, Ripley's cheeks feel as if they are on fire, as she returns to the pilot seat of the ambulance as it gets ready to move into the medical wing of Sevastopol the same place they had just departed not an hour earlier.

"Ricardo? Ricardo?" Ripley says into her radio as Mils finds a spare Sevastopol shirt nearby he puts it on and puts his jumpsuit back on, he readies himself taking a few deep breaths, catching a glimpse of the scar on his freshly healed wound on his abdomen, realizing how close he came to coming down with a case of death.

"David? You Ready?" Ripley asks grabbing and readying her incinerator, it takes a while for him to answer, but he eventually looks over at her with as smile and a nod, he picks up his shotgun, pumps it and gets ready to reenter the chaos of Sevastopol.

"Let do this Rip.." Mils says with all the confidence he can muster, they exit the ambulance and quickly check around their immediate surroundings, they are contacted by Ricardo who lays upon them an unthinkable truth

"Rip! That shockwave from the Anesidora has taken out the orbital stabilizers...we're about to fall from the sky!" Ricardo panicly yells into the radio

"Calm down Ricardo! Have you heard anything from the Torrens?" Ripley calmly replies

"No...I can't contact them...everything is locked down...and that ambulance you used just shut down completely...the Torrens...it's the only way off Sevastopol" Ricardo determines

"Alright...Ric...hang tight...we're going to contact the Torrens...we've come too far to fail now...it's gonna be a full on sprint to the finish...we need to know that you can keep us alive so we can reach Comms." Mils states suddenly into the radio

"Dave! Glad to see you're alright...got a bad cut from what I heard" Ricardo states trying to keep the situation calm by changing the subject to something positive.

"Down right nasty...I'm guessing I should thank you too Ric...without you Rip would have been a little lost" Mils says with some humor in his voice getting a slap on the arm from Ripley who is busy hacking the door into a reception area, Ricardo returns a few moments later with more news.

"Hey...guys! The broadcast from Verlaine just updated...I'm patching it through now!" Ricardo says with enthusiasm, the duo look at eachother with excitement and shock at the sudden development...after a few moments the broadcast begins.

"Hello Sevastopol?! We just saw a ship explode off your starboard side...it took out a orbital stabilizer array...we have now place to dock...we can take survivors...please tell us what's going on in there...I'm keeping this channel open...please contact us...Torrens out!" Verlaine finishes as Mils and Ripley try to piece together a course of action in trying to contact Verlaine.

"God! It's been forever since I've heard her voice!" Mils says honetly

"She must have been trying to contact us this whole time...God knows what she's feeling right now!" Ripley adds

"Hopefully she's contacted the Military or at least someone else who can help!" Ricardo suggests

"For all we know there could be a whole communication issue with that damn gas giant next to the station...Ric's right...Torrens is it!" Mils states exactly laying out how serious the situation was as they come upon a door with it's entry lever blocked by an emergency hatch that hasn't been unsealed yet. Ripley cuts the cover off and turns the lever to open the door, the duo draw their weapons as they move through the doorway to reveal an empty and eerily quiet walkway. Ricardo soon comes over with a new message as the two engineers walk across said walkway.

"Guys!...we've got company!...It's Seegson Security!...Guns in hand and not very friendly...had to hide under my desk!" Ricardo states as Ripley and Mils round a corner with several pieces of equipment on fire as they enter a small platformed office space with a man in the fetal position rocking back and forth.

"What do they want Ricardo?" Ripley asks

"The Torrens!...They heard the broadcast and plan on taking it by force!...at least they plan to!" Ricardo states

"Can they?" Ripley asks both Mils and Ricardo simultaneously.

"No...we'll stop them before then!" Mils says approaching the man they spotted earlier.

"Still they might try it...they're desperate!...come find me at Comms..I might have a plan" Ricardo adds as Mils tries to get the attention of the man.

"Just keep it together...keep it together...keep it together!" the man mutters to himself, Mils tries to get the man's attention again...even going so far as to tap the Man's security helmet that he was wearing, it didn't work, Mils looks to Ripley.

"He's gone Rip...nothing left but a petrified, broken mind" Mils says as him and Ripley reluctantly leave the man, they move through a hallway filled with patches of fire nearly every corner, they spot a member of Seegson Security and crouch behind a crate, they wait for him to move back into a nearby room before continuing to move through the dark and firelit hallway, eventually hanging a right into an almost nostalgic stairwell that they had been in earlier.

They head up the stairwell and through the door at the top of it, after moving through a dark hallway they finally find Ricardo who looks like he's been through hell himself.

"Rip...Dave thank God!" Ricardo says putting his revolver down

"You okay Ric?" Mils asks

"A little tired..but listen Marlow's permissions are still logged into the terminal...if we had the coordinates for the Torrens...we could manually align the transmitter dishes...bypass APOLLO completely..." Ricardo suggests

"There was an observatory in the Comms array...we could use that" Ripley adds

"Yeah yeah!...that'll allow you to find out the coordinates for the Torrens..." Ricardo says with encouragement

"Well then it's settled...we use the observatory..." Mils states as all of them nod their heads in agreement.

"Sounds good...I'll get the door for you!" Ricardo says as he presses a few commands into the console in front of him...the door opens to reveal a short hallway before the elevator that will lead to Comm. Control, they hurry into the elevator, Ripley presses the "up" button and the elevator begins to move in an upward direction.

"Been awhile since I've been an observatory..." Ripley states as she whips some grime off the screen of the motion tracker

"Field trip?" Mils says humorously, Ripley can't help but smile at the slight joke.

"No...was on Gateway back on Earth forever ago...they at the time had the best one out of all the core worlds..." Ripley explains

"Hm...I'll have to go there someday...make a day out of it" Mils states thinking out loud

"I don't think Gateway would be a good date location!" Ripley points out with slight sarcasm, the duo smile at each other for a little, before the elevator begins to slow, they nod at each other and prepare their weapons. Once the doors open they slowly move into the observatory, where there are several members of Seegson Security, they flank around the men who are arguing about what to do about the lockdown, the duo exit stage...left, into the area marked as the observatory chamber, they move down a unique looking hallway which seems to produce a sound of it's own, almost like being in an old windtunnel back on Earth, there is a protective seal on the door latch, Ripley cuts it off while Mils watches her back with his shotgun drawn in one hand and the tracker in the other, once the latch is revealed and the door opened, Mils hands the tracker back to Ripley as they see two desks with consoles and a ladder in between them, they find a dead engineer in one of the chairs, dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound via the revolver in his hand...his name tag reads "E. Kelly", Mils closes the man's eyes as him and Ripley prepare to move up the ladder into the primary observation deck.

"Up we go Rip...there's no time to waste" he says as Ripley goes up the ladder first, he follows her shortly after, once up on the small platform, they see the satellites through the observation window in front of them.

"Okay first things first...Mils I'll get the observation deck ready to go...you get the deep scan ready" Ripley says as she heads to the monitor in the back of the room they are in, she is able to activate deck allowing Mils to use the deep space scanner to try to find the Torrens, he uses said scanner by lining up shapes of a pentagon and a circle, though simple symbols on the screen, the advanced tracking systems were actually being tuned to the Torrens frequency. Once he gets past the first scanning session, the deck and some of the dishes move into position, Ripley moves across the room and begins to work on the second set of scanning protocols, after a few seconds the Torrens is finally picked up, both Mils and Ripley sigh with happiness as they are practically halfway home now...in theory.

"Ricardo...we've found them..." Ripley announces

"All you have to do now is realign the dishes manually..." Ricardo announces, the duo look at each other with the realization that they now have to embrace the coldness of space, a cold chill runs down their spines with this revelation as their most recent ventures into space have been less than...pleasant

"Right...then we're going outside...again" Mils says with a breath to calm himself.

"Godspeed you two...you can do this...I know you can" Ricardo encourages

"Copy that Ricardo...see you on the other side" Ripley finishes she looks at Mils expectantly.

"We can do this...right?" Ripley asks

"We have to Rip...we're almost there...we're almost home" Mils says with a smile and a nod, Ripley returns the gesture as the observation deck drops back into its original position, the duo move back down the ladder, they retrace their steps back into the hallway they had just been in not too long ago, within seconds Ricardo contacts them.

"I can unlock the airlock door from there...gimme a sec" Ricardo says as within seconds the door to the right of them unlocks.

"Good job Ric...I'll have to buy you a case of beer when we get out of here" Mils states

"Make it lager and we've got a deal" Ricardo adds as Ripley and Mils move through the small room, they spot the small lift, Mils and Ripley get on and Mils presses the button to begin their descent, they both notice just how close the space is between them as they stare into each other's eyes for what feels like an eternity.

"This is it...the last mile...and it's gonna be the longest of all of them" Mils says with all the seriousness in his eyes.

"I know...I'm almost at my limit, but I'm not giving up...We're going to end this...together" Ripley says grabbing Mils hands and holding them close to her chest.

"Together...let's do this Rip" Mils says squeezing Ripley's hands as the lift reaches the airlock, they turn and look to see a pair of spacesuits, they reluctantly put them on and prepare to enter the airlock, giving each other nods as they move into said chamber.

"Okay Ric? We're going to have to burst transmission...God knows what kind of debris is out there" Mils points out as Ripley prepares her radio

"Copy that...Godspeed you two" Ricardo says as the doors to the airlock open and the massive dishes of Sevastopol stand in front of the two engineers, they begin to move across the long walkway, their helmets fog up a little as the coldness of space hits their suits, Ripley makes a quick message to Ricardo.

"Ripley...Mils you need to hurry all hell is gonna break loose once Sevastopol falls" Ricardo states

"All hell has already broken loose Ricardo!" Ripley states as a shadow forms on their suits, they look to see a large piece of debris float by.

"Shit...the whole small spec in the vastness of space thing is starting to sink in!" Mils says as they move as fast as they can across the platform, and into a blue lift, it takes them up a few levels and ironically takes them right to the console they need to input the coordinates, they slowly walk up next to said console.

"Okay Ric? We're at the console we're going to input the coordinates now...standby" Mils states as Ripley begins to work on the console, however when she tries to input the coordinates, the computerized voice on the console tells her that the clamps on the dishes are "locked into position".

"Damn it!" Ripley says in a hushed tone.

"It's alright...there should be an override console by the transmitters" Ricardo states

"If it was easy anyone would do it I guess.." Mils says as he follows Ripley down a few flights of stairs, and into dish maintenance, they move into the dark space. Mils reboots the array clamp controls, and the coils of the clamp's controls begin to turn and light up, a large sunroof opens up revealing said clamp on said dish, the clamp releases controls light up, but have yet to be powered, Ripley and Mils tag team powering up said controls. Once they are powered up, Mils and Ripley together pull the emergency release lever down, the dish slowly begins to move freely, Ripley and Mils move to make the short but slowly journey back.

"Okay...Ricardo we're heading back now...let's hope second time's the charm" Ripley says as her and Mils begin to strain as they walk back up the same steps they had only walked down earlier.

"Fuck these stairs!" Mils says as they finally reach the console they were at only a few moments earlier, Ripley prepares to put the coordinates in, after a few long minutes of issues with the console, finally she finds the coordinates and inputs them into the dial shaped device on the console, once that is done her and Mils back up and watch as the massive dish begins to turn towards the coordinates, it fine tunes the very tip of the antenna to finally lock in on a radio signal, Mils and Ripley tune their radios to the same signal, and yell desperate cries of help into the radio.

"Hello...Torrens this is Mils...Torrens come in!"

"Verlaine if you're there please pick up!"

"Ripley?! Mils!? Oh thank God...Connor we've found them...Mils, Ripley what's your status?" Verlaine asks hurriedly and worriedly.

"Bad Things Di...!" Mils says in all seriousness

"There's an alien creature here Verlaine...it's big, lethal, and there are more than one on the station" Ripley explains

"What!...that can't be...please explain!"

"There's no time for a full walkthrough of our situation...we need evac, and Mom you need to call in the Marines...you need to give a code 404.." Mils says with all the seriousness in his voice showing. (A CODE 404 being a general distress call stating that a catastrophic event was occuring in a respective sector)

"Fuck! Are you sure it can't be contained!"

"No chance Verlaine"

"Alright...look you two there's nowhere for us to dock...that station's tearing itself free from it's gravity mooring"

"We've noticed!" Ripley replies

"I'm still seeing a towing platform...it's below the spaceflight terminal...the Torrens umbilical isn't built for it though"

"Then we'll extend the tow platform on our end!" Mils states

"Just get into position Verlaine...we'll be with you soon!" Ripley states

"Godspeed you two!" Verlaine finishes as the two of them move back towards the station and the airlock, once inside the airlock they take some time to recuperate.

"Okay this should be simple...then again getting the medical supplies...setting the trap...getting Comms back up..." Mils begins

"Getting APOLLO to lift the lockdown...purging the reactor...taking the Anesidora...yeah it was all supposed to be simple" Ripley finishes as the chamber finishes depressurizing, they move towards the spacesuit station and take off their spacesuits as they nod to each other and fall back into the lift, Ripley presses the up button as she contacts Ricardo.

"Ricardo? Get your stuff together...we're leaving" Ripley says as the lift rises

"Best news I've heard all day!...Okay give me a..." Ricardo begins to say, but is cut off mid-sentence, the two of them look at each other with worry.

"What the fuck? Ric?...Ricardo? Come in, you there?" Mils immediately getting serious

"Maybe he got spotted..." Ripley theorizes

"Then he better be underneath that damn desk when we get there.." Mils states as they reach the top of the ascent, they look in shock as a massive part of the ceiling in the next room gives way, and out of the vent drops one of the creatures, Mils and Ripley sneak into the room they use the chaos of the surviving security members trying to kill said creature to move into the elevator, as they descend in said elevator, they think their journey is coming to a close, they've gotten through the last mile, but the nightmare is far from over.

Diane Verlaine CODE 404 Message

"This is Captain Diane Verlaine of the USCSS Torrens, registration number MSV-7760...I'm initiating a CODE 404 in the vicinity of Sevastopol station, the station has suffered severe damage with its orbital stabilizers failing, if there are any nearby Military or Civilian ships in the area please assist! I repeat this is not a test, confirmed CODE 404 in the vicinity of Sevastopol Station, all responding ships please notify when nearby...Callsign will be "Lucky Star", Countersign will be "Show Me Home"...until then this is Diane Verlaine...signing off, may God help us...