Alien 3 is owned by Disney/20th Century Fox.
Novelization owned by Alan Dean Foster and Titan Books.
Original characters are owned by me.
Beta'd by AlphaLima1980
Gamma'd by DarthTenebrus
Alien 3: Not Alone
Chapter 6: Derelict Disaster Pt. 1
Back on the derelict, Akula kept his balance as best he could as he descended further down into the darkness. Part of his job was complete when he confirmed that there were eggs in the derelict's holds. Now he had to find a viable path, he kept his finger on his rifle trigger as he finally reached ground level.
The metallic floor was narrow, a platform of sorts that seemed to go on for literal miles, at least that's what he could assume from what he could see, illuminating the large area was a cone of blue light, something akin to what the old rock & roll bands would use as special fx during their encore.
He gently walked a few steps towards the metallic path, keeping the auto-line attached to his torso as best he could. He finally decided to detach himself from the line, tugging it a few times to get the rest of the team's attention. He then let the auto-line move back up towards the surface.
"Boss? The weight is attached, I'm on point... we've got a lot of eggs down here." Akula reported.
"Copy that we're getting ready to join you, just keep that trigger finger itchy." Douglass retorted as above the team prepared their harnesses and weapons. They also had moved back the winch about 20 feet.
"How many eggs do you see Akula?" Denney asked, eager to find concrete samples.
"Hard to tell, this cargo hold goes in for a long-distance...there seems to be a doorway about maybe a quarter of a mile away, as far as eggs go though…" Akula says looking around using his scope to get a full scale of how many eggs he's surrounded by, once he comes to a conclusion he feels a stray bead of sweat go down his face, not just because of the humidity, but because he knew if any of the eggs were disturbed, and the parasites within came out, he'd be done for.
"Ballpark range I'd say...at least a hundred maybe two," Akula replied as he took another step back towards the metal plate.
Back up above, the team all lineup ready to enter into the abyss as it were.
"Strouman you're first! Hurry it up, you're also the heaviest. Once you're down there find Akula, hold tight till we're all down there." Douglass said as the large smart-gunner was attached, equipment and all to the auto-line. With one powerful kick, he moved away from the edge, and was lowered into the darkness, Akula kept his light on, making the large area a little less intimidating. Strouman's size and height make the auto-line shake a little at first, but eventually, the tall killing machine was lowered to the bottom with relative ease, he immediately landed with a thud, receiving a nod from Akula, Strouman unhooked himself and immediately pointed his smart-gun towards Akula's location, passing the shorter sniper, he nodded at Akula.
"Miss me?" Strouman asked, cocking his smart gun.
"Yeah, I needed to take shelter in your shadow," Akula replied with a smirk. One by one the team is lowered down, all of them taking mental note of the large area and the number of eggs.
"Wow! It's like a hanger in here!" Kaufman said on her way down.
"Could fit the Costaguana in here, Rattlesnake!" Sears pointed out.
"Hell, you could fit two of her in here!" Jacobson pointed out.
Eventually, the rest of the team assembled all in a column, ready to move, Denney was in the rear with Bonang.
"Dev was right, there are hundreds of these things here. No wonder the colony fell so quickly."
"Well, it didn't fall overnight, there's only around a dozen eggs opened. My guess the xenomorphs who burst from the prospectors up top came from these eggs." Denney theorized.
"Why can't we just grab one of these eggs again? I mean they're like right there!" Banks asked Knight.
"Unless you brought a massive saw of some sort, we ain't getting any of these away, not without heavy lift gear." Knight retorted.
"We also couldn't grab any of these eggs, not without disturbing the others, then we'd have a real problem," Douglass said marching by to the head of the pack, he held his arm up to signal the group to stand up in position.
"Team listen up, maintain your intervals, stay on the path...Strouman's on lead, Bonang you got the rear. Let's do this, people!" Douglass barked as he and the team marched at a steady yet cautious pace. The team moves like a well-oiled machine, pointing their weapons at not only the eggs but the area around them. They knew that the xenomorphs were ambush creatures and that their current surroundings offered perfect opportunities for their alien friends.
The darkness, the walls, the fact the team had to stay on one singular path, it was a strategy that Douglass didn't like, and if it wasn't for the biological landmines in the form of the eggs flanking him on both sides, he would've abandoned it without a second guess. Kaufman had her game face on, like the rest of the team, she kept her submachine gun ready with one hand, while constantly checking her tracker on her forearm.
Unlike the homemade trackers that some engineers used or the more proper marine models, hers didn't act as sonar or changes in the air density, but rather it had a database of the team's biosignatures loaded on it, this meant that anyone not in the system would give off a red dotted signal on her screen, it also displayed the orb based on the target's heartbeat, if it was a normal human heartbeat it tended to be a small dot, but anything large in size or with a loud, stronger than human heartbeat would be shown with a larger dot.
"Anything Kaufman?" Sears asked from behind her.
"No, only ones here right now are us."
"Why aren't the eggs giving off a signal, they have living creature's in them after all, right?." Sears pointed out.
"Well, I'm not Denney. But, if I read my case file correctly...it said something about the eggs being in a form of stasis, frozen like a tv-dinner." Jacobson said from over his shoulder, twirling his toothpick with his tongue.
"Banks, have you gotten through to Al yet?" Douglass asked suddenly.
"No point in trying Boss, this ship is so old, and it's been here for so long, there's no way I could get through we'd need a clear-cut way of contacting the ship. Once, we get back up top, I'll use the comm system in one of the rovers." Banks reported.
"Great...means if shit goes south, we're screwed." Knight begrudged.
"Relax. We're prepared for any situation, good and bad." Riggs yelled from his position. Strouman's eyes squinted as he approached what appeared to be a doorway, the conned light projecting his large shadow across the darkened wall.
"What the hell is this light anyway, Boss?" Strouman asked.
"Beats me Strouman, you just keep your gun straight ahead!" Douglass added. The team eventually make it to the source of the light, which isn't produced by a lightbulb, but rather the reflective surfaces of the two metallic slabs that act as doors.
"This is a little of a tight squeeze Boss, I can barely get through here!" Strouman stated as he turned the smart gun so it was pressed against his chest, making it easier for him to pass through the tight doorway.
"Everyone take it slow, I don't want any fuck ups, not now!" Douglass replied with irritation and anger, frustrated that another obstacle had come up on the mission. The team slowly move through the doorway, one by one, all taking notice of the right quarters of the doorway.
"Thank God I decided to go on that diet," Bonang pointed out.
"I hadn't noticed," Akula replied from ahead.
"Funny..." Bonang laughed, but he noticed that everyone had quieted down ahead of him, when he got through the doorway, he caught up with the rest of the team, the slim pathway had expanded to a large circular platform, similar to the one on the upper level, the area itself had expanded, mimicking an amphitheater, or domed football stadium of the 20th century, the room was also illuminated in an eerie bluish light, something akin to lighting only more constant.
"Holy Shit..." Bonang said, amazed by the huge room.
"How is this possible? I mean this ship can't be this big..." Banks exclaimed, not knowing how such a large structure could be possible in a ship with such an obscure shape.
"If that was a storage space, a nursery if you will for the eggs, what on earth is this?" Riggs asked no one in particular, motioning back towards the eggs with his thumb.
"You tell me man; I only work here." Knight retorted.
"All right, we not gonna find out anything standing here like a bunch of boy scouts, fan-out search for any signs of our alien friends. Jacobson, you and Sears watch the doorway." Douglass ordered as the team all paired up moving in several directions, Strouman, Riggs and Douglass approached a circular cavity of sorts almost resembling a crater.
"Whatcha make of this Riggs?" Douglass asked the med-tec.
"It looks like something used to be there, like an object or something, the engravings resemble a skeleton of some sort, it resembles one of the artist renditions I've seen by some of our experts, I've even heard a theory that they used these morphings, these engravings to hide in. Though this engraving is far too big." Riggs pointed out, noting the sheer mass and size of the crater.
Denney and Bonang move towards another object, one that bears a shocking resemblance to something else, an egg. Though it was differently shaped, it was slightly larger and seemed older, or at least different than the ones in the room before.
"What the hell is this Denney?" Bonang asked pointing his shotgun towards the spherical object.
"It's definitely an egg, but there's something different about it. It's way bigger than the others, and why is it here?" Denney said as she looked around in wonder, not knowing what to think. She then spotted something, or rather someone nearby. Her eyes widened as she approached a figure that appeared to be growing out of the wall, she cautiously approached what appeared to be a colonist, part of her jumpsuit was burned, and a bloody wound that appeared to have happened much earlier caked her side with dried blood, her body appeared to be in a form of decay, but in the ship's holds, said decay appeared to be slowed.
"No way...that's a colonist," Bonang said walking up with Denney, who pulled out her scanner, pressing it up against the colonist's body, with a sigh of remorse for the decaying woman in front of her, Denney announced the obvious.
"She's dead, has been for a while...her body is burned pretty badly, she must've been dragged here by one of the xenomorphs." Denny theorized, trying to make out the nametag sewn onto her jumpsuit, though it's partially burned she can decipher a few letters...llon.
"They dragged her from the colony? That's like what, couple dozen miles?" Bonang pondered out loud.
"No way, that's not probable, I mean why? Why not just use one of the prospectors?" Denney asked.
"I'll leave the theorizing to you, but maybe cause she's a woman."
"Whatever the reason, there's nothing we can do for her now," Denney replied walking back towards the egg.
"Right, what about the egg?" Bonang asked gripping his shotgun.
"We can probably get the parasite out of the egg, though I don't know-how," Denney said as the other members of the team investigate various aspects of the room, on a whim Banks tried to contact the Costaguana one more time.
"This is Shark Six to Shark Two, Al can you hear me?" Banks tried, a little frustrated that her communications skills had been failing her to reach the ship. To everyone's shock, Loera's crackling voice comes through their headsets.
"Shark Six this is Shark Two, I read ya loud and clear, you're coming in really strong Banks! You guys find an ancient alien radio dish or something?" Loera asked, which caused Banks to smirk.
"Not really, we entered into a chamber of sorts, maybe it's made of some sort of weird material." Banks hypothesized.
"I'd bet money on that!" Knight added, setting the explosive charges down.
"Copy, have you found any xenomorphs?" Loera asked, as from his control center back on the Costaguana he was still having trouble pinpointing the location of the team in the ship.
"Nothing yet, we've found plenty of eggs... Guess, that's what caused the colony to fall." Banks reported.
"The colony went on lockdown due to the xenomorph threat within the colony, but according to Dr. Ripley's report, it sounded like the colony was attacked from outside the colony as well." Loera pointed out.
"Makes sense, only one Xeno got in, the first case remember? It was another prospector named Russ Jorden; he was brought back to the colony." Douglass stated.
"Than the ones that came out of the stiffs up top, they must've gone to help it," Kaufman added as she and Akula moved towards what appeared to be another egg.
"Wait? So, they coordinated an assault?" Sears asked Jacobson.
"Sounds like it." Jacobson added, thinking of the practical problems that defending against a horde of xenomorphs would present.
"Well let's just hope most of them were caught in the explosion earlier." Loera pointed out.
"Just keep the engines warm Al." Douglass said.
"Copy."
Akula and Kaufman approach the second egg, they naturally draw their weapons, worried that the egg might open itself up, and spring forth one of the deadly parasites. However, when they approach it, they notice that the egg is already open, they peer their weapons inside, noticing that the insides appear to be dried up and evaporated.
"Hmph? No one home. Looks like this egg's been open for a while." Kaufman stated.
"Yeah, wonder where it's parasite went?" Akula added as he moved around the egg pointing his rifle down at something on the floor, he pulls out his knife and picks it up, revealing to Kaufman the arachnid-like body of a dead facehugger parasite.
"Fresh, must've just finished its job..." Akula stated analyzing the insect-like corpse.
"Which means there should be someone nearby...and I think I found him." Kaufman said looking straight ahead at something, or rather someone plastered to the wall, Akula saw him too and the pair approached the man stuck on the wall.
He appeared to be a colonist, at least that's what could be detailed based on his attire, which appeared almost military in design.
"Looks like one of the colony's security guards," Akula stated, Kaufman notices the name tag the man is wearing.
"Ward? Why does that name sound familiar?" She pondered.
"According to the staff files, he was the security chief for the colony."
"Something must've happened to him, maybe he was trying to leave the colony, ya know like take his chances living out of a rover till the calvary arrived." Kaufman wondered.
"I don't know, something doesn't add up, why would they go to the trouble of dragging him all the way over here. The same goes for the other colonist." Akula stated, turning around to face the egg, and also look over towards the body of the female colonist.
"Maybe something's up with the eggs? Maybe, they're like special or something?" Kaufman asked out loud.
"Or...it's a trap." Akula stated, causing Kaufman to audibly gulp. Douglass walks over at that moment, trying to piece together the puzzle his team seemingly has walked into.
"Anything to report you two?" he asked, already eyeballing Ward's near-comatose body.
"Well, besides the obvious, we've got one opened egg, one dead spider motherfucker, and one probably pregnant colonist," Kaufman reported a little grossed out by the realization that she was dealing with pretty gross surroundings.
"Right, we sure this one's alive?" Douglass replied walking up to Ward.
"Yes, he's been breathing steady, similar to someone in a coma, at least from what I've seen so far." Akula responded, as his experience with being a sniper had made him an expert on breathing habits and patterns. Denney and Bonang walk up to the trio at their impromptu meeting.
"Boss? We've got a little situation." Bonang started right away.
"Tell me something I don't know." Douglass replied sarcastically.
"Newborn horses can walk immediately after being born, this is because they develop motor skills substantially in the womb," Denney answered matter of factly, causing everyone to look at her like a two-headed elephant.
"Oh, umm sorry not the best at noticing sarcasm. Me and Bonang discovered an unopened egg, it's still in a form of suspended animation, so it's still relatively healthy. It's victim, who appears to be a colonist doctor most likely died while being apprehended or was dead before she was taken here." Denney reported quickly and efficiently.
"So, you're saying that we now have two types of specimens to collect?"
"Precisely," Denney answered as Riggs walked up with Strouman.
"We brought the proper containers to take specimens with us Boss, plus I think I might be able to save that man's life, if we bring him back to the Costaguana," Riggs suggested, Douglass pondered his next course of action.
"Strouman get this man down, Riggs prepare a sedative." Douglass barked, he looked over towards Denney and Bonang.
"Denney, get that thing out of the egg... just don't give it a free ride." Douglass barked as Denney sighed a shaken breath, she knew it was now go time. She grabbed a flat object from her pack, it folded into a container, which not only holds the specimen but also releases gasses that freeze it.
"Okay, Bonang? This is gonna be intense, be ready at a moment's notice to grab this thing. It's attracted to heat, so recommend you stay cool." Denney stated as she placed her submachine gun down.
"Hold on I've got an idea, what if we put on our masks, I mean you said it senses body heat right, at least that's what you think? We shield our breath, our eyes everything." Bonang suggested, grabbing his mask.
"Not a bad idea, of course, if you're wrong... someone will...ya know," Denney answered, with Bonang finishing her thoughts.
"Face a fate worse than death." Bonang replied as he put his mask on, Denney did the same as they prepared to "crack" the alien egg.
Denney and Bonang met each other's masked gaze, they both nod at each other, as Denney presses her hand against the xenomorph egg, her eardrums rumbling with the sound of her heartbeat. She removes it as a hissing noise comes from the egg, and it appears to begin to thaw. It opens up with Denney crouching down with Bonang aiming his shotgun towards the egg, expecting the parasitic organism to shoot out at him.
However, after a few tense moments of heavy breathing, Bonang lowers his shotgun, but only for a moment as suddenly the parasite launches out, diving for Bonang who is knocked down, his shotgun thrown to the side as he fights to keep the facehugger away from his...face.
"Ahh...shit! shit!" Bonang yelled through his masked face, although it was still unlikely that the parasite would succeed in breaching Bonang's mask, it still was fighting like its life depended on it. It even went so far as to wrap its tail around Bonang's throat which caused him to soon gasp for breath and air.
"Ian! Shit! Bonang's down, I need help here!" Denney yelled to her surrounding teammates as she dashed towards Bonang's side, Jacobson, Sears, Akula, and Kaufman all come running, Akula grabs the facehugger without a second thought, trying to save his best friend.
"Got 'em, shit this sonavabitch is strong, like a damn boa constrictor! Sears, grab it, but watch the tail." Jacobson said as he grabbed the creature's body strongly, struggling with his fellow mercs.
"Got it! Damn, watch it!" Sears said grabbing the long, muscular tail, Denney meanwhile prepares the container, sliding the top part open, as it takes the strength of the three grown men to force the facehugger into the large metallic container. Denney slides the door with a grunt.
"Woo, damn! That bastard put up a fight!" Jacobson said with a grunt.
"Yeah, fucking thing's got acid blood and a strong ass tail! Devil's work man!" Sears said shaking his head.
Denney, meanwhile, pressed a few buttons on the container, and within a few seconds, a mist entered into the container, filling it up quickly, when it dissipated the once struggling facehugger now stood frozen and still. Denney's fears dimmed with a happy sigh of relief.
Kaufman meanwhile is helping Bonang take his mask off, which the taller merc willingly does.
"Hey hey hey! Easy Ian! You're okay, that mean ol' alien dick didn't get into your mouth!" Kaufman stated, soothingly at first, but then almost pretending that Bonang was a child.
"Shit...that was...terrifying." He responds, as Akula offers his hand, Bonang graciously accepts it.
"At least you're not expecting now." Akula replied with a smirk.
"Damn it, I was looking forward to being a dad..." Bonang replied with a gruff laugh, as he grabbed his canteen from his back belt, taking a sip quickly, letting his breath slow down a little. Denney walks over, a little feeling of concern has been allowed to enter her heart.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, looking up at her taller teammate.
"Terrific, next silly question." Bonang replied with a laugh.
"Hey! Cut the chit chat! Jacobson, Sears give us a hand." Douglass ordered as Riggs and Strouman removed the still unconscious Ward from his home in the wall.
"Easy Strouman, easy watch his neck, we need to get him ready to move!" Riggs yelled as they placed Ward down flat on the cold xeno-metallic floor.
"Alright, I'm gonna give him a sedative, then we just have to carry him back to the ship, it's gonna take time... but if means we can save his life, and of course the xenomorph it's worth it," Riggs replied, his medical training and Hippocratic oath-breaking thru the cracks of his Weyland Yutani first mindset, Douglass, however, has other plans.
"How long's that gonna take?" Strouman asked reequipping his smart gun.
"Thirty minutes or so to get him back up top, then another half hour to get back to the ship, I can sedate him, which should stop the xenomorph from entering into this world prematurely. Two hours to complete surgery, so around three total." Riggs stated, his experience coming back in full view.
"What if you do it here?" Douglass asked the gears in his mind already in motion. It was possible for an emergency surgery be conducted in the field, it was part of Riggs' training and he did have some experience, but that was with fixing wounds on the fly, not helping an alien being enter the world.
"I could try, but I don't think I could save him...all that it would involve would be tracking his heartbeat to see if he indeed had a xenomorph within him, most likely since he does, I could form an insertion point in here." Riggs theorized, Douglass was unimpressed and was actually getting agitated.
"Can you just get that thing out of him fast! The xenomorph he's carrying is more important." Douglass stated, angrily.
"I can do a mixture of solatin, vitryll, and biocarbons to encourage the xenomorph to speed things up, but I can still save ..."
"Riggs, the mission comes first... now I'll do it myself if I have to, and I won't be gentle. You want to help this man, put him out of his misery!" Douglass gritted through angered teeth; it was clear to Riggs now what he had to do.
"Right, give me a few minutes, and he'll be dead. That thing isn't gonna wait long, so I'll need help. Abigail, give me a hand, would you?" Riggs asked, as the light-haired xeno-expert came jogging over, she immediately dawned gloves for the task at hand which wasn't going to be pleasant.
"Alright, one chemical cocktail I would lose my license if I did elsewhere, coming right up." Riggs said to himself.
"What do you mean?" Strouman said from over his shoulder.
"Solatin, Vitryll, and Biocarbon form a neurochemical called Octabuicribsceide, or OB juice as it's called on the black market. It's used in medical situations where the mother is in a terminal condition, but the baby can be saved. It basically euthanizes the host and saves the fetus, or in this case the xenomorph. It's illegal to make, and in fact, you have to have it shipped to you by the government if you need it. Luckily, I know how to make it. This will do the job." Riggs replied holding up the syringe containing the compound.
"I've got the crate ready Riggs." Denney said as she slid the container into place. Riggs takes a deep breath, mouthing "I'm sorry", before injecting Ward with the syringe, he presses down on the syringe as the concoction entered Ward's body, Denney puts a stethoscope on and presses it against Ward's chest, she listens as his heartbeat slows to a crawl, and then stops. She looks up at Riggs, who sighs in regret, perhaps disappointed in himself that he had to resort to a brutal tactic to get the job done.
Denney moves the stethoscope around Ward's chest, as another heartbeat is heard, and is rapidly increasing in beat.
"Riggs, I think I hear it, it's fast but strong..." Denney states, but she suddenly hears something else, the sound of tearing and snapping, like clothes being ripped. Denney however knew that she wasn't hearing a shirt being ripped, but rather Ward's chest muscles and flesh being torn to shreds.
"I think we're gonna have company soon Riggs." Denney stated putting the stethoscope aside, as Riggs cut open Ward's remaining clothing covering his chest.
"Alright, everyone is ready...this is gonna be rough for a few moments." Riggs replied as the remaining team members all aimed their weapons at the body of Ward. Soon, it began to shake and quiver as the tearing sound emitted louder than ever from the body of the former Wey-yu security chief.
With a final tear and pull, his chest began to peel outward, as the skin rose, finally, with a burst of blood and gore, the xenomorph made its entrance, it's birthing cry could be heard throughout the whole chamber. Denney and Riggs look on with a mixture of scientific amazement and humanistic horror. Douglass smirks however as the rest of his team keep their weapons trained on the xenomorph.
The creature itself looks at its surroundings with wonder and natural hostility, it growls in anger, but before it can scurry off like it's numerous brothers and sisters, it's grabbed by Riggs and Denney, who struggle with it with surprise and amazement.
"Strouman give us a hand!" Riggs yelled as the xenomorph roared in anger, and primal rage. Strouman stepped in, his large hands and larger muscles allowing him to control the xenomorph a little easier as Denney opened up the second container.
"Ready?" Riggs said as Strouman nodded with a grunt.
"Do it!" he replied as the pair of them forced the xenomorph into the container with a grunt as it cried one final angry yell before Denney slid the lid back closed and pressed the same button, she did for the facehugger, the xenomorph was frozen stiff in a split second. The rest of the team lowered their weapons.
"Excellent work you two! I'll make sure you get credited for your job here today." Douglass said with a smile, but Denney and Riggs especially weren't exactly smiling after what had occurred, they both tossed their blood-stained gloves to the side.
"I'm retiring for good after this, one murdered patent is enough on my conscience." Riggs replied under his breath.
"I wish we could have done more for him." Denney added as Bonang walked over with the frozen facehugger, still in its container.
"Well, that wasn't exactly a smooth operation..." Bonang pointed out.
"Tell me about it, we could've waited... kept him alive." Denney stated as Douglass working on his feet moved towards a new objective, however his planning was interrupted by a screeching from nearby.
"What the hell was that?" Banks asked no one in particular.
"I think we woke up the neighbors," Knight stated, turning the safety off on his pulse rifle.
"Kaufman?" Douglass yelled, as nervousness began to enter his thought process after all Xenomorphs were perfect ambushers. The young brunette checked her console, with nothing coming up on her small screen.
"Nothing Boss, it's just us in here...at least for right now," she replied gripping her submachine gun and getting closer to Akula who has prepared himself for action, turning his hat backwards, adjusting his rifle stock to make it more comfortable, and switching his laser sight on.
"Be ready Lexi! It's gonna get busy in here." Akula said to his cohort.
"Banks report back to Al, tell him we're utilizing protocols 7 and 11." Douglass said as the rest of the team took up defensive positions.
"Right. Shark Two this is Shark Six. We are engaging protocols 7 and 11, over." Banks said into her comm. mic.
"Solid copy Shark Six, recommend moving specimens away from the action zone." Loera responded as he flipped a few switches back on the ship. Protocol 7 entailed securing the specimens in a safe environment, and Protocol 11 meant that xenomorphic encounters were about to occur, most likely in a violent way.
"Copy. Boss? Al thinks we need to move the bugs!" Banks reported.
"Right. Denney these are your specimens now, you take care of them, Bonang go with her." Douglass ordered, Denney nodded with a sigh, beginning to feel a sting of conscience pierce her brain. She grabbed the crate containing the facehugger, while Bonang picked up his xenomorph carrying case with a grunt.
"Alright, come on Denney, we need to move!" Bonang yelled as the pair jogged as fast as they could out the slim doorway. Running as fast as they could with the added weight. Bonang grabbed the harness as fast as he could, attaching Denney while helping her with the container.
"Strap the other one to my back, save a trip," Denney stated with reason in her voice.
"Alright, hurry up Denney...I've got a bad feeling all of a sudden," Bonang stated, as he attached the second container to her back harness.
"You and me both!" Denney said as she ascended slowly towards the topside entrance. Once there she takes off the two containers as fast as she can considering the massive amount of weight both of them produce.
"Stay put you two, I hope you're worth it!" Denney stated as she quickly hooked herself back up to the line and kicked herself away from the edge with a grunt. She lowered herself as fast as she can as Bonang eagerly awaits her, he helps her out of the harness as both hurry back to the rest of the team.
Meanwhile, Kaufman suddenly began to pick up movement on her arm tablet.
"Boss! I've got a target moving right for us." Kaufman yelled suddenly, causing everyone to switch their safeties off with speed.
"Could you be a little more specific Kaufman?" Douglass asked irritated.
"One big ass signal, and it's close...within 50 meters," she replied matter of factly.
"Which direction?" Knight asked as he placed the case containing the unassembled demolition charges down by his legs.
"This one, it's coming from the South," Kaufman said pointing her submachine gun at a nearby corner, which when the light was shunned on it revealed to be another causeway.
"Shit how did we miss that?" Banks asked out loud.
"We stopped looking when we found the eggs in here." Jacobson stated.
"Like we were supposed to." Akula added grasping his rifle tighter than ever, letting a rare bead of sweat fall down his forehead.
"So...it's a trap... they set a trap." Sears said, finishing what everyone had been thinking.
"Doesn't matter, we know how to handle these fuckers, everyone get ready... where the hell are Bonang and Denney?" Douglass barked as everyone aimed their weapons at the causeway as Kaufman's tracker continued to tune in on the approaching target. Bonang and Denney finally arrived, taking notice of everyone's posture and moods.
"Bought time you got back here." Jacobson yelled annoyed.
"Good to see you too." Bonang retorted.
"Quiet! We've got incoming targets!" Sears stated nervously as with a growl from the darkness their target came, a xenomorph in the flesh for the whole team to gaze upon emerged from the causeway, everyone took its appearance.
It stood about ten feet tall, dwarfing Strouman in size, it had a large domed head, which Denney spotted immediately, but she also mentally noticed something else, it's head wasn't a smooth dome as part of the back end of it extended upward like a crown of sorts, it's arms were long and upper body around its neck area appeared to be built up with biological armor that resembled a collar on a fancy shirt, but there wasn't anything fancy about this creature, it walked with purpose and determination.
"Hold your fire, wait for it..." Douglass asked as his team aimed their weapons, ready to cut the xenomorph to ribbons. The xenomorph itself just looked at the space in front of itself, almost trying to think of a plan to escape it's already decided fate.
"Go ahead, make my day..." Strouman growled as he pointed his smart gun at the approaching beast.
"Hold your fire..." Douglass stated again as the xenomorph finally roared in anger as it charged forward to take out Strouman who wasted no time in opening fire with his smart-gun. Putting several dozen armor-piercing bullets into the large xenomorph as it yelled in pain before falling to the ground with a thud. Strouman and Douglass approach the down beast as its acidic blood begins to eat away at the flesh of now the dead xeno, but also the floor itself.
"Well so much for close encounters, good work Strouman...Denney come take a look at your bug." Douglass ordered as Denney came running over as fast as she could, knowing full well just how fast the superacid of the xenomorph worked at destroying any evidence of the creatures' existence.
"Sorry about turning your science project into swiss cheese Denney," Strouman said in a mixture of legitimate and mock regret.
"It gave you no other choice, but I'm interested in its head cavity here... I mean the artist renditions based on Ripley's testimony never mentioned it. Maybe it's some special breed, a breakoff from the original genotype." Denney stated as she rambled off into her scientific theory. Riggs came jogging over as well at that point.
"I wondered what our xenomorph friends would look like up close, too bad we won't have time to perform a proper autopsy. I wonder why it simply came out of the causeway like that. I don't understand it myself, for as intelligent as they seem to simply walk into a room with a dozen armed mercenaries, is just plain unintelligent." Riggs pointed out.
"Well, they're still animals... animals make mistakes, maybe it was some sort of guard for the eggs?" Denney suggested, Riggs pondered her thought.
"Well, in many insect societies there are guards for the birthing chamber or the larva pits. Makes sense that the same would apply here. Especially considering this one's large size and peculiar head shape. Sometimes the King of that respective society stands guard." Riggs finished.
"True, well now we know for certain bullets can kill them... Let's go." Denney stated as the rest of the team let their heart rates return to normal.
"That was a little bit of a dud..." Knight said to himself in disappointment.
"Aww did someone not get what they wanted?" Banks said with puppy dog eyes.
"Just thought there'd be more of them," Knight said turning his safety back on.
"Alright, Jacobson...Sears get ready to move, we need to warm up the rovers. Rad levels are probably gonna be higher now, so be ready to pop your masks back on...come on people let's get moving, job's done." Douglass yelled as he adjusted his beret. Akula meanwhile was checking the surrounding area with his rifle scope, utilizing his HV vision on the scope to try and see any form of movement belonging to the Xenomorphs, only to be disappointed.
"What about the rest of the ship?" Bonang asked.
"WeYu will probably send a whole army to grab the rest of the eggs, when and if this place gets safe to come back to," Douglass replied, Strouman goes to move, but something touches his shoulder. Something wet and slimy, he looks down with disgust, as he presses his fingers into what appears to be a clear gelatinous material, resembling nasal mucous. He picks some of it up with his index and middle fingers, disgusted at the snotty feel it made on his fingers.
"Hey Denney?" Strouman yelled across the way, getting Denney's attention who turned around to answer.
"You ever hear of these things blowing their noses on the wall," Strouman said holding up his mucus-covered fingers, Denney raises an eyebrow.
"If you must know that mucusy substance that your holding is only produced from a..." Denney begins to say, but she stops talking when she realizes that the substance only exists when a living xenomorph is nearby, her fears intensify, as she sees the dark wall move or rather something exit it's hiding hole. Kaufman meanwhile feels her tablet vibrate with a new target on her screen, she turns herself to face where the signal is coming from and her face turns pale when she sees it's right behind Strouman.