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 20: Endgame
The elevator slows to a stop, and for what feels like the hundredth time the duo of Amanda Ellen Ripley and David Andrew Mils step out of said elevator, they raise their weapons in expectation or rather instinct, they check the darkening and slightly shaking hallway they were in not a few moments earlier, their faces and bodies caked with theirs and others blood, sweat and other bodily fluids from their experience on Sevastopol, and they hoped that soon it would be over, then again they had hoped it was over when they first arrived on said station, only to be met with setback after setback.
Mils quickly runs towards the end of the hallway, trying to contact Ricardo on the radio, Ripley meanwhile is checking the tracker knowing full well that there are still numerous creatures on the station.
"Ric?...Ric come in we're near you now...we'll be there in a few seconds, if you can hear us please pickup..." Mils says into the radio, getting more desperate with Ricardo's silence, Ripley meanwhile points her incinerator at the vents above them as she hears a heavy thumping sound, she turns to see Mils move through the door at the end of the hallway and walk up to the help desk Ricardo was located at, Mils stops and drops his shotgun and presses his hand against the glass, nodding his head down, with a look of despair in both Mils' body and face, Ripley comes a running as fast as he can, fearing the worst.
"David?!...David! What happened what's wrong, is Ricardo..." Ripley asks as she finally arrives where Mils is, she looks at what he's been looking at, she sees in horror as Ricardo has one of the parasites wrapped around his face and neck, they both silently know that with this sight, Ricardo is practically dead and doesn't even know it himself.
"Oh God...Ricardo!...Oh no!" Ripley says in a hushed tone, covering her mouth to hide some of her sobs, Mils averts his eyes from the sight as it's too much for even him to take in at the moment, they both silently come to terms with the loss of the man who had helped them for so long, the sting of the loss burns even a little more with the thought that Ricardo's last conscious thought was that he was finally getting off the station, another somber thought breaks into Mils head as Ripley silently weeps next to him.
"It's bulletproof isn't it?" Mils asks no one in particular, Ripley reluctantly answers knowing that Mils would want to shoot Ricardo to put him out of his misery, a mercy killing in an unmerciful world.
"Yes...I know what you want to do David...but" Ripley says touching Mils on the shoulder lightly, she feels just how tense Mils is as with all the muscle in his back flexing with anger.
"We have to go though..." Mils states finishes Ripley's statement, he turns to look at his partner in crime.
"We need to get out of here, otherwise Ricardo died for nothing" Ripley says, Mils picks up his shotgun and with a confident smirk, he pumps it and nods at Ripley.
"Well then let's get off this fucking station, for Ric..." Mils says nodding at Ricardo, Ripley returns the nod, and turns one last time to Ricardo, she kisses her hand and lays said hand against the glass.
"I'm sorry..." Ripley silently says, she readies herself as Mils nods her over to a dark hallway leading to the stairwell they had been in earlier, Mils leads the way as Ripley follows keeping a close eye on the tracker while at the same time gripping her incinerator, Mils hugs the railing as tight as he can checking back periodically to see if Ripley's alright.
"Okay we should be able to get back to towing station" Mils says silently, as they reach the bottom of the stairwell, they suddenly hear a small battle going on in the distance, Mils peers around a firelit corner and looks with horror as a few creatures are shot at by several members of Seegson security, to no avail as the creatures use their catquick like reflexes to move up onto the walls and into the vents. Mils sprints back to Ripley and guides her into a nearby lowered section of the hallway where there is a vent covered with an emergency seal.
"We need to move Rip, we're sitting ducks if we stay here!...can you get that seal off?" Mils asks keeping an eye on Ripley and an eye on the noise coming from the far side of the hallway, Ripley thinks about for a moment, and then replies
"Give me a sec...watch my back!" Ripley replies
"You've got thirty...hurry our friends aren't gonna hold those fuckers off for long" Mils stresses as Ripley goes to work cutting the seal off the vent, she moves as fast as she can, cutting a square out of the seal, once she finishes cutting it with her Ion torch, she uses all of her strength to remove the cover, she shines her flashlight inside the vent to make sure it's safe.
"Good work Rip...we need to go now we got company" Mils says as he pushes Ripley into the vent with the sound of an approaching creature, he follows her in as they begin their short trip through the vent, once they reach the other side and exit into a surprisingly well lit and intact room, however the room next to it in the workshop area the pair found themselves in only a short time ago is in total disarray, with various small fires and dead security members lying on the floor.
"Poor bastards..." Mils says under his breath as he steps over the body of a... ...
The duo move around several darkening rooms, before ending up in the main hallway they were in earlier, of course it's a little different as it's mostly on fire, that and an old friend of theirs "patrols" it. Ripley notices the creature before Mils who once he sees it ducks into cover as Ripley sprays a burst of flame towards the creature, it screeches in pain, but stays in pursuit.
"Fuck it!" Mils says as he aims his shotgun at the creature, he opens fire on the beast which is roughly 20 feet away from them, after several shots the creature falls dead, it's acidic blood beginning to melt at the floor and area where said blood was splattered, smoke rises from the creature's corpse as Ripley and Mils walk up to said creature, with disgust, yet amusement at the anomaly that is the creature.
"God what do you think, the big man upstairs was thinking when he made this thing?" Mils asks to noone in particular, after a few moments Ripley answers
"If there is a God, then there's a devil too...this is his work" she replies
"Amen to that Rip!" Mils says as him and Ripley move through the main checkpoint of the workshop before moving into a small elevator which will take them up to SysTech Spire upper level, the elevator doors close and the ascension to the spire begins. The lean against the inside of the elevator, as their slow ride begins with the shaking of the cramped, borderline coffin shaped elevator, they just spend the moment in silence that is until Ripley asks a poignant question.
"David?...How the fuck are we gonna do this? I've never talked a ship into towing before..." Ripley reveals, Mils scratches the back of his head, and seems lost in space as it were, with his thoughts on the answer to the rather complicated question.
"David!?" Ripley asks again
"Huh...oh yeah, me neither...our best bet might be the habitation area...if it's not on fire or completely destroyed like other areas, then it most likely going to be powered down and destitute. Then there also might be security, and one or...God forbid two of those things...we can't take on those odds not for long anyway, I suggest we move fast and quiet, we're running out of time Rip." Mils stresses as the elevator begins to slow, and eventually comes to a stop
"Alright here we go!" Ripley says under her breath, once the doors open they spot a lone member of Seegson Security patrolling the habitation area, Mils and Ripley nod at each other splitting up one going right and the other left, though they are not spotted their movements are heard by the man. He points his shotgun in the direction of Mils while Ripley prepares a movement to knock the man out from behind, however her thoughts of attack evolve into thoughts of fear as noises are heard from above her in the air vents. Almost on cue her tracker begins to go haywire, she ducks behind a pillar as she looks with widened eyes as the room is filled with another occupant, as if it's name were called to dinner, one of the creatures (uncharacteristically) slowly lowers itself from the vent opening.
Mils sees this as well and tries to warn the man, but the man finds out about the creature all too soon as he hears the creature's breath on his head, he turns around and is met with the second smaller jaw of the creature going into his head killing him instantly, the creature catches the dead man's body and drags itself and the man's corpse back into the vent opening.
"Shit!" Mils yells, but notices something on the ground he picks it up, wipes off the blood of the security officer, and looks at it closer.
"Looks like a security card, hopefully it opens that office up...here, I'll watch your back" Mils says throwing the card to Ripley, nodding at her while gripping his shotgun ready to take on the creature should it show up, Ripley and him move over to the outside of a small office, though the card is accepted the door remains locked.
"Shit...Mils I think it needs another code, can you check around see if anything is nearby?!" Ripley asks
"There's a sealed door over hear, we need to find out what's on the other side, if we're lucky it could lead to a terminal with some info on it, or a room with dead people, either or at this point." Mils says as he approaches a door that's sealed, Ripley cuts the seal off, turns the handle and the door opens, they both head inside past metal detectors that both go crazy once the two engineers pass through them.
They eventually walk into a large room with multiple monitors set up, Mils and Ripley soon realize that they are in the master control room the one that would "in theory" control the power for the entire habitation deck.
"Okay Mils this should restart the entire deck from the ground up, did you find anything about a password?" Ripley says as she types several commands into the console in front of her, Mils meanwhile has been busy going through the contents of a separate console, he finds the security code needed for the office.
"Yeah looks like 1508's the magic number...let's regroup back at the office" Mils states as him and Ripley move back into the waiting area they were in before, in said area, Ripley enacts a one two punch of the security card and the code to open the door leading to the small office, she finds a terminal that will reactivate the transit system, she looks back at Mils who has loyally followed her into the room.
"Alright...if all goes to plan, this will get the transit system back online...keep your fingers crossed David!" Ripley says stretching her fingers out in preparation of the restart process.
"Trust me they've been crossed for a while.." Mils says in a slightly quieted statement, Ripley restarts the transit system and with a few shutters and shakes, the lights on the entire deck come to life, though they are happy that the terminal has been reactivated, they are both all too familiar with getting their hopes crushed on the dissolute station.
"We're not out of the woods yet, we've got a tram to call, and I bet you anything that it's take a moment or two to get here" Mils says preparing himself as he rounds a corner with Ripley back into the waiting room, as she presses the call button for the upper habitation tower, they both turn around with their backs to the wall of the tram entrance.
Mils exams his shotgun and the ammo he has left for it, while Ripley does the same on her incinerator.
"Okay I've got seven shells left Rip...how bought you?" Mils asks
"I just loaded my last tank...we can't afford to get into any more firefights...we need to be smart about this...we're too close to screw up now" Ripley states as she points her incinerator down a darker corner of the room
"Roger that Rip...clock and dagger from now on!" Mils says nodding as the emergency yellow lights and constant beeping from the tram were starting to become an annoyance, Mils however didn't care his only focus was getting him and Rip out of there alive. As if cued by a stage hand during a play one of the creatures dropped from it's hiding place in the vents. It lowers itself like a spec-ops agent breaking into the Kremlin, it drops on the far side of the room, both of the engineers spot this and prepare their defense.
However going with their more recently adapted strategy, Ripley stops Mils from aiming his shotgun, she picks up a flare on the ground, lights it and using all the athleticism in her body to throw the lit flare across the room, it lands with a thud near the creature, it gets it's attention as the sound of the burning material, plus the light source produced by the flare has it's full attention, the timing couldn't be more perfect as the tram arrives just in time for Ripley and Mils, the doors of the tram open, the duo rush into the tram with all the speed they can muster, the creature notices them and tears itself away from the flare, it charges towards the tram at shocking speed, however the doors close just in time, the creature hits and tears at the doors, but not before the tram finally takes off towards the upper deck.
"Well that was way too close...good thinking with the flare" Mils says as he pats Ripley on the back, he sits down on the bench using his shotgun like a crutch almost, Ripley sits down next to him placing her head in her hands. Mils looks at the reflection of the pair in the window of the tram.
He smiles a bit, but still grimaces at him and Ripley's portrait as it were, himself didn't look like he did when he first got up in the morning, he had a wired look to his eyes, a few scrapes and cuts lined his face, the gash he had sustained earlier when they had first arrived had stopped bleeding ages ago, but still for the most part trickled a small drop or two of blood. The bandage on his arm was still there, albeit stained with several different shades of reds, oranges and browns. There was also some residual blood from his stomach wound that he suffered on the Anesidora.
Ripley herself leaned back into the bench and was about to speak to Mils when she saw what he was looking at, she observed her changed state with equal detail, it was clear that the experience of Sevastopol had changed her and Mils, permanently in her eyes, she had a few new scars on her face, the grim of the station had turned her bare skin into a darker shade then it once was, her nose wasn't as swollen or bleeding as it was when it was first broken, but did have a few stains of blue in it's structure, she had a few cuts and bruises on her sternum that she knew for sure, the adrenaline of the situation had kept her mind of the obvious pair of broken ribs she had.
"Hm...not a bad looking pair, if you remove the gore and couple of severe wounds we've got!" Mils states under his breath
"You're telling me...not to boast, but I'm a lot better looking most of the time!" Ripley adds
"Here, here!" Mils agrees, just as he does the tram slows to a stop as they arrive at the upper deck, they nod at each other as they move to stand up, they get a sudden message from Verlaine as the doors to the tram open up.
"Mils...Ripley! This is the Torrens, we're about to move into position for an auto umbilical dock sequence...we're going to go dock on Comms for now, it's gonna take a while for us to match the failing orbit..we'll be waiting on you with the docking clamps..Mils I don't know how you sweet talked me into this!" Verlaine announces, as the pair dash into a small elevator that'll take them to the spaceflight terminal.
"She acts like this is the first time I've sweet talked her into something like this!" Mils says as he presses the move button inside the elevator.
"Please tell me you've not done this before?!" Ripley asks with a quick sigh of annoyance with her hand on her hip.
"Nothing this big, I once had to talk her into a small dock, that was barely big enough for ship, she was skeptical whether it would fit...I talked her into dock, the harbormaster was not happy...Matt Sells was his name...they hooked up that night for a coffee, my suggestion as well" Mils states with a proud smirk on his face, before Ripley can add anything she's interrupted as the elevator shakes and crashes to a halt, after steadying themselves the pair look around to investigate.
"Hey Rip did you brush up against the emergency stop or..."
"The elevator's stuck come on Mils we've gotta go now!" Ripley says using Mils last name in order to switch the situation back to serious mode, Mils help her exit the elevator via the large opening now formed by the elevator's sudden stoppage, the pair enter into a fire lit area, there is a large double door they move through it, and come upon a long hallway filled with fire, debris and the stench of death. To make matters worse an X-Model android shows up, covered with fire and walking with lethal determination.
"Shit! Rip get in the vent! I've got this!" Mils orders readying his shotgun, but handing Ripley his jack/prod with his free hand.
"What!? Are you crazy?!" Ripley asks out loud
"Trust me" Mils states with a wink, Ripley hurries and gets into the vent nearby, she however stays near the entrance, she stares closely at the approaching android and Mils getting closer, Mils prepares the shotgun, he waves Ripley out when the android's back is against her. She slowly gets out from the vent, she readies the jack/prod, she prepares to attack the android, Mils meanwhile points the shotgun towards the android's chest, he pulls the trigger (6 shots left), the android takes the brunt of the blast, it is turned around and walks right into Ripley's attack which consists of her stabbing the throat of the X-Model, white blood pours from it's mouth as it falls down in a seizure filled thud.
"That wasn't so hard was it?!" Mils asks
"What happened to cloak and dagger?"
"If it were spotted Rip, all bets are off..."
"True I guess...let's go Verlaine's waiting" Ripley says handing the jack/prod back to Mils, they head down the hallway and move through a door cautiously, the room they next enter into looks like a waiting area, however the only thing waiting for them is a massive fire at the far side of the room, and a silhouetted figure, said figure being a creature.
"Fuck me...they're everywhere Mils!" Ripley says crouching down and hugging the darkened wall as best she can with Mils nearby, they borderline "crabwalk" towards a nearby picnic table, Mils sees something on said table and grabs it to examine. It appears to be a bottle of alcohol, but a oily rag and a battery box with a few wires are taped to the outside with the rag stuffed down it's neck.
"Shit Wallace Rye...drank a lot of this in my college days, let's see how are friend likes the smooth aftertaste" Mils says as he waits a moment lighting the oily towel creating a molotov cocktail with a punch, before throwing a perfect spiral of a pass towards the creature, the creature turns just in a niche of time as the bottle makes contact with it's "face", the battery explodes, and with it the alcohol lights, the creature lets out a scream of pain as it jumps blindly into the vent, leaving behind drops of acidic blood.
"Smart thinking Mils...we need to hurry though"
"I hear ya Rip...check the safe out, I'll see what's on that terminal" Mils says as he approaches the terminal at the far side of the room, next to a pallet jack blocking the exit with a stack of boxes connected to a console that requires a keycard, Mils looks through the contents of the console as Ripley looks into the open faced locker window, she sees something that brings joy albeit slight joy to her body, the keycard needed is inside as well as a spare fuel tank for her incinerator.
"David I need a code.."
"1984 Rip...seems the owner of the locker like George Orwell" Mils says as he exits the terminal, he moves next to the keycard console, once Ripley opens the locker she grabs the fuel tank, and the keycard, she throws the keycard to Mils who puts it into its respective slot, the pallet jack is powered up and lifts the boxes. They head through the entrance, they go through a dark hallway, they dead end into a door with an emergency panel, Ripley cuts said panel off and opens the door, they struggle to move through the hallway as the area around them shakes a little, the round a corner and pass up a destroyed evacuation station, an automated message plays over the intercom.
"Evacuate Immediately"
"We're trying!" Mils and Ripley almost say in unison as they round the corner and enter into a large office with numerous terminals all with big red X's on the their respective screens, not a good sign, they find a dead man who's name reads , they move through the vent Ripley leading the way with her incinerator, they exit out into a large recreational area, there is a generator in the center of the room near an open door, they find a dead man with a spider parasite nearby on the floor dead, the man has chosen to take his own life, perhaps knowing his fate, a keycard lays near his body.
"Huh...Hey Rip what should we call these things?" Mils asks grabbing the keycard
"I really don't know, nor care David" Ripley answers returning back to her casual name for Mils
"Well how bout Face Humper?"
"Tecniqually they hug the face from the looks of it!" Ripley adds exiting the room
"Well in that case we'll call them...Facehuggers!"
"Mils we need to get the power back on, not play zookeeper!" Ripley says, she approaches a terminal and places the keycard inside the proper slot, Mils restarts the generator and the lights and general power of the area they are in come to life. However their actions haven't gone unnoticed as a creature comes sliding in by crashing through some light debris, causing both of them to curse loudly!
"Fuck!" Ripley yells grabbing her incinerator
"Shit!" Mils says grabbing his shotgun, he acts quickly firing (5) two shots (4) into the creature, it falls back into the fire, as it screams Mils and Ripley sprint as fast as they can out of the room through an opened door, they eventually find their way past a lit entranceway and into a room with a vent, Mils move through said vent first, as Ripley follows close behind, with minutes the reach the exit, and almost on cue Verlaine contacts them.
"Sevastopol...this is Diane Verlaine of the Torrens...I'm attempting to dock on your towing platform below your spaceflight terminal...we can take survivors please advise!" she says as the pair move down a firelit hallway, and into a elevator that will take them to the spaceflight terminal, the doors close and the elevator begins to move up, as Ripley and Mils prepare their next move.
"We need to move fast, if the station falls the Torrens will go with it" Ripley stresses tightening her fresh tank onto her incinerator, Mils shakes his head in anger.
"I'm not letting my pride and joy die on some gas giant!" Mils says referring to the Torrens as if it were a child.
"It won't not on our watch David!" Ripley says, as the elevator slows to a stop, the doors open and the engineers move into an area they were in what feels like days ago, they duck under a collapsed pair of pillars and into the spaceflight terminal, which is in more disarray than when they first arrived.
"And I thought this place couldn't get any shittier!" Mils says out loud as he and Ripley move down a flight of stairs and hang a sharp right.
"Looks like we missed one hell of a party..." Ripley says using Mils words from earlier, they move fast across the large space, until they reach a door that has a seal on it, Ripley quickly cuts the seal off and turns the lever down on the door to open it, they move through the door and into the elevator on the other side of the room that will take them to the towing platform.
"This might be tricky Rip!...it's gonna be a two prong attack...we each go to a terminal, and get the towing platform online quickly...we'll deal with any fuckers we come across accordingly...I've got four shots left...more than enough" Mils states as he checks his shotgun.
"Sounds good David!" Ripley says preparing herself mentally and physically for the hell they are about to enter into! They are greeted by Verlaine who has regained radio contact with them.
"Mils! Ripley! I'm awaiting your signal...do you read? Do you read?"
"We read ya Di...what's your status?!" Mils yells as him and Ripley enter into the yellow emergency light and fire filled towing platform control decks.
"Mils! Thank God...I hear ya...I need you to extend the dock cradle clamps...there should be two! Be quick about it!" Verlaine responds with a cocktail of anger, relief and worry in her voice.
"Copy!" Ripley says as he rounds a debris covered corner and hacks into one of the consoles to activate the docking procedure, once done they sprint towards the other one, it appears powered down.
"Aww fuck me...hold on, Rip stay here I'll find the generator" Mils yells as Ripley takes cover behind a wall, he moves under the floor through a vent door, following several wires, he eventually finds the lever that will activate power, he pulls it down and moves back towards Ripley. She helps him out of the vent and hacks into the second terminal successfully.
"Okay good...now move to activate the docking clamps!" Verlaine orders over radio as the pair move towards the final terminal, Mils fires one (3) shot into the unconscious android who twitches slightly as death grips it. Ripley activates the towing clamps and Verlaine contacts them again.
"Alright the clamps are engaging, you need to move to the upper control room!" she finishes, Ripley and Mils dash up the large stairwell behind them as fast as they can, knowing how close they are to safety, however those thoughts evaporate with the sight they see in front of them once they reach the top floor. The umbilical is gone, ripped to shreds, totally unusable.
"Shit...okay Di? The umbilical is gone!" Mils states
"What!?"
"The personnel umbilical is gone...long gone!" Ripley stresses approaching the terminal in front of them, desperate to see if they can find any sign of help, they find it once they see a maintenance rig is still active.
"Okay Di...listen!...we're not totally fucked for once, there's a maintenance rig available, we use it and a couple of suits and we're home free!" Mils says with confidence
"That's suicide!"
"That's our middle name nowadays Verlaine!" Ripley says as she follows Mils back towards the stairs, they are stopped dead in their tracks by a creature coming up the stairs with a creepy walk...or in other words it's normal walk.
"Fuck that!" Mils yells shooting three (3) (2) (1) shots into the creature who falls down the stairwell with a summersault of sorts.
"Suits now!" Mils says with a yell as he follows Ripley into the airlock. Mils and her separate briefly and prepare their suits, she grasps her helmet and prepares to put it on first, until a wet substance drops onto it, she looks up with horror filled eyes as a creature stares down at her, Mils looks over at this time and prepares his shotgun, but he's out of ammo (0), he prepares to tackle the beast but is grabbed from behind by another creature, with screams and yells the two engineers aren't killed but grabbed and dragged forcefully into the vents above them with yells, grunts and groans their worlds both go dark.
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YOU NEED TO GET UP SON
WAKE UP AMANDA YOU'RE ALMOST HOME
NO SON OF MINE IS GOING TO DIE ON A SHITHOLE STATION!
YOU MUST NEVER GIVE UP, NOT NOW, NOT EVER SWEETIE!
LOVE YOU KIDDO
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MY DARLING
NOW...
WAKE UP!
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Amanda sturs to wake first, her vision blurry as if she'd been partying the whole year and is just now waking up from it...
Her vision begins to sharpen, and when it does she looks down and sees Mils unconscious body with blood coming from it.
"David...David! No no no" Ripley goes to move, but can't when she tries, she looks to her sides and sees her arms trapped, covered by the secretive material the creatures somehow produce. She turns to look at the world around her and sees dozens of eggs near her and Mils. She notices one open up and begins to panic.
"Fuck...no no no!" Ripley says as she struggles to remove herself, this noise begins to stir Mils who awakes to see the sight of a facehugger exiting the egg, he steadies himself as he sees Amanda trying to remove herself from the wall!? He readies his next move carefully not wanting to be spotted by any nearby creatures.
Ripley gets her left arm free after what feels like an eternity of struggling, she looks to see the facehugger scurry on the floor and slowly creep towards her, she closes her eyes as it prepares to launch, suddenly she hears a high pitched screaming, she opens her eyes and sees a knife going through the facehugger, the knife belongs to the hand of David Mils.
"God I hate these things!" he says slowly getting up
"David! Thank God I thought you were..." Ripley says trailing off, but she is cut off by Mils.
"Shhh...we're not alone at least I assume we're not" Mils says helping Ripley remove herself from the wall, once she's down she latches onto Mils as if he were the last man alive in the universe, for all intents and purposes he technically was.
"Thank you...thank you!" Ripley says holding the back of his head in the hug.
"I've always got your back Amanda...ALWAYS!" Mils stresses, they hear a noise from nearby and break the embrace.
"No time let's get back to the airlock...who knows what's happening outside" Ripley states shifting back into business mode, she picks up her incinerator from nearby as Mils finds his jack/prod nearby as well, and the two move through the almost alien hallways, they arrive eventually at an area that resembles a subway station from hell, they move through a partially destroyed tram, and come across a few facehuggers, they eventually reach of "valley" of sorts and look across a small gap, though it's traversable there is still various pieces of twisted metal, their recon is interrupted as two creatures jump down and scurry across the gap.
"I hate when they do that!" Ripley states
"Ditto!" Mils replies as follows Ripley across the path, it leads to what appears to be an inferno of flame, they detour to the right and move into a empty room with a door on the far side.
"Why is this room empty...interior decorator go on strike?" Mils says trying to brighten the pitch black mood, Ripley soon comes to a startling realization.
"It's not a room it's a..." she begins to say, but is interrupted when the room begins to...fall
"LIFT!" Ripley screams as her and Mils float in air before hitting the ground hard, she struggles to focus, before Mils helps her by shaking her awake.
"Rip...Come on we've gotta go" he says holding his bad arm, his face lit up by the flame of the destroyed lift to his right, she follows him through a lowered hallway, and down a ladder into a workshop, and through a door.
They see a track of sorts, which is soon occupied by two creatures who move to attack them, before they see something coming...but far too late as a tram crashes into them at supersonic speeds.
"Jesus!" Ripley says, as she reluctantly moves onto the tracks with Mils.
"Okay let's try not to catch any of these trains!" Mils yells over the chaos.
"God...just let us make it through here!" Ripley silently says, they step across several junctions, but their most recent one is filled with fire and smoke making it hard to see, however Mils hears a tram a coming, and grabs Ripley throwing her into a lowered section of the tracks.
"Down!" He screams as he throws his body on top of Ripley's as the tram moves past them above.
"Too close!" Ripley says as Mils lets her up
"You're telling me!" Mils says as the pair continue their crusade.
"Way too close David!"
"I know" Mils says as him and Ripley move into another lowered section, he checks to see if another tram is coming, yet has trouble spotting one, Ripley feels it coming and pulls him down from his looking spot, almost mirroring his actions only a few moments earlier, they exchange heavy breaths as the seriousness of the situation hits them.
"Too close?" Ripley asks
"Too close" Mils agrees, they eventually move over the lowered area and through a halfway opened door, past an office, through a vent system, past some eggs and eventually end up on top of an elevator, the elevator lowers itself slowly with the pair's presence, they get on a nearby ladder and pass through the gap in between the elevator, that strategy is sound until they fall from the ladder ending, they both fall with respective thuds, though nothing is broken, nothing serious they are scared shitless by the elevator starting to come towards them only to stop a few dozen feet from them. They quickly exit stage left, and back into what appears to be the remnants of the towing area of the station.
"Verlaine? Verlaine? Are you there!?" Ripley yells into her radio, her vision blurry from the fall.
"Ripley I thought I lost you two!" Verlaine answers after a few silent moments
"You almost did Di..." Mils states
"Mils! Listen we're being dragged down with the station...the gravitational pull has twisted the rig...we can't get free!" Verlaine stresses
"We'll take care of it Verlaine...what do we need to do?" Ripley asks as she and Mils move into the station's last surviving airlock.
"There are explosive bolts...on the emergency release...Hurry! Sevastapol's going fast!" Verlaine yells as the pair quickly don their spacesuits they were only at minutes earlier.
"We won't...let you down!" Ripley adds placing her helmet on with the rest of her suit.
"Okay here we go...this is it Rip..." Mils says as he prepares to enter the airlock with his spacesuit on, Ripley nods and follows him into the airlock, once readied the doors to the outside open and the chaos filled platform is revealed to them, Mils says a prayer as him and Ripley begin their march to the emergency release.
"Our Father who art in Heaven...Hallowed be my name...thy kingdom come...thy will be done" he starts as him and Ripley move across a destroyed layer of the station in a lift.
"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our tresspasses...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..." Mils finsihes
"Amen" him and surprisingly Ripley say at the same time as they move up a long stairwell before arriving at the emergency release
"Okay we're here Di!" Mils says
"There should be two primary mechanisms to unlock the manual release" Verlaine finishes as the pair go to work, activating the manual releases in unison with the turning of levers and the insertion of keycards, the compartment in front of them opens up and reveals the explosive bolt command system, almost exactly the same model and procedure as if someone were self-destructing their ship or something like that.
"Okay Di...we're almost home!" Mils stresses attaching himself to the guardrail as Ripley begins to put in the sequence, by inserting small cylinders into holes at all all four corners of the console and then priming said cylinders, she struggles slowly with every insertion as her body is starting to fail her, when she gets to the fourth and final one she drops the cylinder, before a second set of hands helps her put it in, the hands belong to Mils who helps insert the final cylinder, she shakes a little as the station begins to fall apart. Mils feels something in the pit of his gut that spells trouble, he's right when he sees the shapes and figures of creatures coming towards them.
"Okay Rip!...we gotta go...get ready for the blast!" Mils says as he lifts Ripley up and leans her against the railing behind them, Ripley looks to see in horror several creatures approaching them, she grabs Mils right arm to hold on to him as he's the only one tethered to the station at the moment, he leans forward and presses the final confirmation button on the console, almost in slow motion the clamps explode sending the creatures flying, and freeing the Torrens, however Mils and Ripley are currently holding onto each other for dear life.
It was at this moment that David Mils, not even thirty years old, realized that this was it, the end...
He figured in that moment that if anyone were to survive this mess, it would be the woman he had come to love, he closed his eyes briefly and then opened them focusing on the woman holding his arm with all her might.
"Rip!..." Mils yells as she looks to him expectantly.
"This is bad David...really bad!"
"The Torrens is free!...it's right over there!" Mils says pointing to the ship which is now raising itself from the falling station
"We don't have time...they won't reach us!"
"I know, that's why I have to do this, do you trust me?" Mils asks
"You know I do...now what are you going to do?!"
"You aren't gonna like it so...I'm not gonna tell ya...look Ri...Amanda I didn't on plan on finding anything on this damn station...and I was right, but I did find someone...I found you!...I hope you find your mom...and when you meet my Dad...tell him I went out like a badass..."
"What! No David No!" Ripley says trying to stop him
"Goodbye Amanda...Love ya...see ya on the other side!" Mils finally yells as he throws Amanda as hard as she can towards the Torrens, she turns in shock as an explosion engulfs the platform, and David...
"Nooooo!" She shrieks as her eyes immediately water up with tears, in that moment David Mils, the man she had come to respect, trust and even love was no more, her head was spinning both literally and metaphorically, as she slammed into the airlock of the Torrens.
Amanda blinked herself awake from the impact and pulled the lever to send her into the airlock, she stands up as the airlock pressurizes, thinking back to the pain she was feeling, physically obviously, but also the loss of so many people at the destruction of Sevastopol, Axel, Waits, Samuels, Taylor, Ricardo...David...
She thought about what she would tell Verlaine or even Mils actual mother.
"Verlaine I made it...I'm on my way to the bridge..." she said into the intercom, but yet didn't hear anything on the other end, something that got her heart beating in a bad way, she moves through the quiet hallways slowly, and presses the button to enter a room, she's met suddenly by a...creature!? One of those things had gotten on the Torrens before her!?
She backed up slowly in shock and awe into a nearby airlock, she thought that this was it...she would face the fate that the she had dodged countless times, but there was noone to save her, all her saviors were dead...because of this thing in front of her...NO!...she mentally screamed as she stared death in the face...not today! She took notice of the emergency exit button to her right, she looked the creature dead on and with a simple phrase...
"FUCK YOU!" she yelled as she pressed the button opening the airlock, sucking her and the creature into space, Amanda Ripley's world went dark at that moment...
.
.
.
As Ripley's exodus occurred, another individual was entering back into the world he had just left...
He opens his eyes slowly, his ears ringing from inside his spacesuit, he looks down at his burnt and slightly damaged suit, knowing full well he was alive for one split second or maybe more he had exited the world of the living, Saint Peter had just finished taking his name down when he was dropped back down to the world of the living.
David Mils was still alive...
He also knew however that he didn't wanna die stranded in space...Not now! He turned his body and looked around him, a mushroom cloud had formed in the surface of the gas giant next to him, a sign that station was no more. He clutched his eyes in shock and relief at the nightmare being over, finally he turned his attention to the M-Class ship flying overhead, the Torrens was waiting for him, and the women he loved was on board hopefully.
Amanda...have to get to her...
Mils yelled with every move, as he finally reached the airlock, he opened the airlock and once inside took off his suit with joy, he was home...
"Di! Conn?...Rip anybody alive in here? He almost playfully asked as he exited the airlock and into the ship, he moved quickly into the bridge where he saw Connor at his controls as always.
"Conn...hey man thanks for getting our asses out of the fi..." Mils began to say, that is until he saw the state of his friend, a jawlike hole was in his head as the man he had known for years laid against the chair dead..."
"Oh fuck! Conn...no no no...don't fucking tell me" Mils said as he closed Connor's eyes with sadness in his own, his thoughts then drifted back to his Captain and his mentor...
"Shit...Di!...Diane! Where are you?!" Mils said as he picked up Connor's revolver, he rounded a corner and saw with dread, his Captain lied against the hallway wall, covered in blood and with several puncture wounds in her body.
"No no no no...Di!" Mils yells running towards the woman, she begins to open her eyes to look up at the man she would often refer to as her work son...
"David?...you made it!" She said as she put her hand out to grasp at him, Mils grabbed her blood covered hand and grips it closely.
"I'm here...you're okay! I've got you Di!"
"No...not this time kid...that monster got on board...killed Connor..." Verlaine says as she coughs up more blood
"Ripley...made it on board...jettisoned herself and that thing into space...they're gone...both of them!" she continues, with this announcement Mils' head drops as some tears fall from his gray eyes.
"She may have survived the initial blast...she had a suit on!...oh my...David? It's time..." Verlaine says handing him her Captain's pin and keycard.
"No...I'm not..."
"You've proven yourself enough...she's yours now...take good care of her...don't you dare let me down...okay?"
"You got it Mom!" Mils says as he watches through tear stained eyes as Verlaine falls dead in front of him, one last thought creeps into his mind however, that Ripley still had her suit on, he quickly gets up and heads to the bridge, he accesses manual control of the ship, to snap it out of autopilot he types in the confirmation code for Captain's authorization, and also the transfer code for him to take over command, he begins a several hundred mile long scan and finds one ping...
Said ping is a human female in a spacesuit.
He found her...
Amanda Ripley floated in space endlessly, limp and unconscious. Her trial had ended, her mission over, she had closure and the one person she clung onto was gone, she was ready to face death head on now...
Not Today Though...As a light shone onto her face, a bright, industrial light!
Ripley awoke with a shock, at the bright light, was this it, they always talk about a bright light, but two of them...attached to an M-CLASS...THE TORRENS!
She shockingly stared at the freighter and happily, well as happily as she could, moved to the airlock, she repeated the same motion she had done earlier and entered into the craft. She immediately took off her suit and once it was off just sat there on her knees, and silently breathed in and out, she was finally safe...but who had?...
The door to the airlock room opened, and a figure moved through it, a figure she couldn't believe was real...the figure belonged to David "BY GOD" Mils!
He slowly walked into the room as if approaching a child who was scared, to be fair Ripley was scared a little, not knowing how this was possible, he got down to her level and stared into her eyes.
"Hey Rip" he said silently, she reached out and touched his face and chest wanting to make sure he was real, she then tested her theory out, by grabbing him around the neck and pulling him into a strong, passionate kiss, and with all the love she could muster pour her heart into him, he gladfully returned the gesture, holding her in the small of her back, finally they broke the embrace and just stared at each other. It was over!
"How did you?..."
"Let's just say one explosion isn't enough to kill me..." Mils answers trailing off.
"Connor?...Verlaine?" Ripley asks, Mils lowers his eyes to the floor
"No...one of those things got on board...killed them...it's gone thanks to you...Di...she made me Captain..." Mils says holding up the Captain's pin.
"Oh my God...I'm so sorry David..."
"It's finally over now...let's get you cleaned up...and I've gotta eat...among other things" Mils says helping Ripley stand.
In the next few hours both him and Ripley prepare Connor and Verlaine's bodies, taking all the proper preparations, a small prayer is said as Ripley and Mils say their goodbyes to the two people who had tried to save them, they had succeeded somewhat...their cloth wrapped bodies are jettisoned into the space that use to be occupied by Sevastopol.
The pair have a banquet, well as much of a banquet as they could with the standard issue food, they sat and ate in silence, exhausted by their trials on Sevastopol...they took showers together trying to clean all the grim and gore their bodies had collected, they eventually moved into the medical wing of the ship, any wounds they had suffered were dealt with accordingly with cleanings, restichings, and heavy medications.
Finally it was time for them to go to bed, Mils and Ripley the "Heroes of Sevastopol" were ready to go to bed, Mils helping Ripley into her chamber first.
"Alright Rip...time for some shuteye, I think we've earned it" he says as Ripley moves into chamber.
"Yeah...David? Don't forget you owe me a date when we get back..." Ripley says with a smile
"I owe you more than that!" Mils says planting a kiss on her forehead, before standing up and letting the chamber close on Ripley, within a few short moments she falls asleep, Mils then goes to his chamber, next to hers and gets in, he closes his eyes as the door closes, knowing that the two of them were safe once and for all.
FINAL REPORT OF WEYLAND YUTANI TRANSITION 234-CV
CAPTAIN DAVID MILS REPORTING
TWO MEMBERS OF CREW (CAPTAIN DIANE VERLAINE AND COMM. OFFICER WILLIAM CONNOR) ARE DEAD, CAPT. VERLAINE HANDED OVER CAPTAIN AUTHORIZATION TO MYSELF PRIOR TO HER TERMINATION. CONFIRMATION CODE 233-XT-1HC3
TWO MEMBERS OF WEYLAND YUTANI BOND (CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR AND ELIZABETH TAYLOR) ARE DEAD
ONLY MYSELF AND AMANDA RIPLEY HAVE SURVIVED THE INCIDENT ON SEVASTOPOL STATION
SEVASTOPOL STATION DESTROYED
ON ROUTE TO OUTREACH STATION FOR REPAIRS/DETOX
SHOULD ARRIVE WITHIN FOUR DAYS
THIS IS CAPTAIN DAVID MILS
MSV-TORRENS SIGNING OFF
Ripley Final Log
This is Amanda Ripley, one of two known survivors of Sevastopol Station, the station is gone.
We lost everyone Taylor, Conner, Verlaine, Samuels...
But, me and Mils are okay, we're safe and we're heading home...
I wanted closure when I came to this station, I was feeling alone when I did, but I found closure, I found what happened to my Mother, and I found David.
I have him now, we have each other, we walked through hell and came out on the other side.
I'm not alone...
Amanda Ripley signing off...
THE END