Alien 3 is owned by Disney/20th Century Fox.
Novelisation 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 8: Winter Contingency
Back on Earth, Mils looks at the hallway of photos he spotted earlier, the same that was in his dream. Only he noticed that David and Amanda stood where he and Ellen had in his cosmic nightmare.
The young couple before him on the old-style photographs looked to have had quite the versatile life. There were pictures of Amanda and David on their ship, The Torrens. Which from what Mils could tell looked eerily similar to the Nostromo. His gaze stopped on one photo, in particular, it was Amanda in a hospital bed with her and David holding a pair of babies, Mils presumed the babies were his grandchildren.
He keeps walking down the wall of memories, noticing how much Elizabeth and Christopher resemble not only their parents but even him and Ellen in some regards. He smiles at the pictures of the family on vacation, at birthdays, and graduations. He noticed another photo, one that looked peculiar. The family all standing in front of what looks to be a sculpture of what appeared to be the Nostromo, or a ship similar to it.
Next to the picture's frame is a brochure, though it looks dated, both in design and existence. Mils grab the brochure and look at it with interest.
On the front reads: Nostromo Memorial Unveiling at International Museum of Space Exploration.
Mils turns it over and with an angry grimace sees the Weyland Yutani logo on the back of the brochure. He takes a mental note of the address, as he looks at another photo seeing the couple more old and gray, he also notices another piece of paper this one belonging to a funeral home, he pondered whether or not his Son and Daughter-in-Law wanted him to find these documents.
He takes the funeral home pamphlet with him, determined to pay his final respects to his family.
...
Back on the Costaguana, the remnants of the sharkpack pile into the medical wing of the ship, Kaufman helping Akula sit down on one of the stools as Bonang carried Denney in behind them. He gently placed the still unconscious xeno-expert on the nearest cot, he frantically takes her Mask off, tossing it to the side. Her nose still has fresh blood coming from it, but her head doesn't appear to have any cuts or puncture wounds. He took her armor off and then unzipped her top, revealing a few cuts on her torso and arms, plus a sports bra, something Bonang uncharacteristically ignored.
Bonang checks her pulse, he's relieved that it's still there, and is still strong. He moves over to a nearby cabinet, opens it up, and immediately grabs a syringe of the experimental W-X drug, which would heal any internal wounds Denney was suffering from, in her case most likely a concussion of some grade. The syringe has a pre-determined amount of the vitamin, Bonang places the syringe in the medical booster gun used for injecting patients.
"Okay...Denney? This is gonna hurt a little...well maybe more than a little." Bonang said as he pressed the syringe booster into Denney's arm. Her body jolted a little as the vitamin contents began to heel Denney internally, Bonang still began to disinfect her small cuts, Kaufman approached from behind him handing him a spray bottle of Schwab Nasal Repair.
"Here!" Kaufman stated as she handed him the bottle.
"Schwab? I thought they did Burn ointment?" Bonang asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They started with this apparently. Riggs...he snuck some on before the mission." Kaufman responded, her voice catching on her dead teammate's friend. Bonang took the spray and placed it into each of Denney's nostrils. He wipes the blood from her nose and stands up straight, wiping his sweat-covered forehead.
"I...Ummm, should probably stay with her. Till she..." Bonang starts to say, but Kaufman interrupts him.
"Hey, Ian! We've got her...that super drug will have her up and walking in no time..." Kaufman replied.
"But..." Bonang started but was cut off by Akula.
"Ian! You need to find out what the Boss was thinking back there!" Akula replied as he held a sanitizing towelette to his face wound, blood staining the cloth to a shade of pink.
"Okay...let me know when she wakes up. Boss has some explaining to do." Bonang said, exiting the autodoc. Kaufman looks down at Denney, she straightens the xeno-expert's hair, before she hears Akula curse behind her, she turns to see Akula trying to stitch his facial wound with the suture press, that would seal the wound with medical stitches.
"Hey! I thought we agreed the scar would improve your looks." Kaufman stated with a smile and a raised eyebrow, Akula just uncharacteristically laughed but grimaced due to his still fresh wound.
"Heh...oww, don't make me laugh...damn it my face is barely holding together as it is." Akula replied as Kaufman walked over, taking the medical sticher from him and grabbing a sterilizing towelette, pressing it to his wound he grimaces at its touch.
"You know you're supposed to clean the wound before you seal it right?" Kaufman asked with a perplexed look on her face.
"I usually don't get cut, not on my face at least..."
"Well I suppose I should help you out then, seeing as how you saved my ass back there," Kaufman replied as she continued to clean the wound.
"We'd lost half the team already, I couldn't lose anyone else...especially you," Akula replies though he keeps the latter part of his statement under his breath. Kaufman stopped cleaning the wound at hearing this.
"What?"
"I said we couldn't lose anyone else..." Akula replied in a censored statement.
"Well, I owe you one," Kaufman stated as she picked up a syringe of morphine, dropping the numbing liquid into the cut.
"When did you become a nurse?" Akula pointed out taking notice of the seemingly professional procedure Kaufman was following.
"Whatcha mean?"
"We got basic medical training when we got formed, this is beyond basic."
"Well for your information, when I was young I wanted to be a doctor...or at least a nurse. It's what my folks both did."
"Really?" Akula asked as Kaufman picked up the medical suture press, and began to seal the wound.
"Well...kinda my Mom was a doctor, my Dad was a hospital tech...he worked on all the machines, everything from digital thermometers to incubators. That's why I'm so good with tech, and with fixing a certain someone's face," she explained.
"I used to read thru Mom's books all the time, and used to help Dad with a few projects." she continued.
"I suppose I should feel privileged then, or at least safe," Akula stated as he numbly felt the stitches enter his face, sealing the wound he received courtesy of the winch.
"Glad to hear it, I'm almost done," Kaufman replied.
"So, how'd you end up in juvy all those times, I read your file...your parents were never mentioned," Akula responded, Kaufman stopped as she reached the end of Dev's cut. She looked down as she grabbed another towelette.
"They wouldn't be, once I hit puberty things kinda exploded, literally...my Dad was fixing a new type of electric cooling unit. Something went wrong, it went off..the house and my parents went with it. I had to move in with Aunt Nikki, God she was horrible...she taught me to fight though...so that's what I did, a lot. High School can be rough ya know?" Kaufman stated.
"I'm sorry Lexi..."
"It's ancient history Dev...I left the Mistake on the Lake a long time ago. Weyland Yutani saw I had some skills, and I'm not bad looking too. There! All better." Kaufman said as Akula's face now showcased a medically sealed wound, done in a way that professional would be proud.
"Thanks, guess I owe you a beer," Akula responded,
"I'm actually more of a Crown Apple girl," Kaufman responded, when she went to move past Akula however she began to feel woozy, Akula noticed this and caught her, holding both hands on her shoulder.
"Hey...easy," Akula said as he felt something wet on his right hand, he pulled it back and saw it was now covered in blood.
"Jesus, Kaufman...looks like you were hit...you're bleeding..."
"I ain't got time to bleed," Kaufman responded, trying to keep her bad girl image intact. Akula gently switches places with her, placing her down on the seat he was just occupying.
"Oh okay, well... you're gonna sit down and let me sew you up..." Akula responded, as he used his knife to cut the sleeve off her arm, revealing that she had suffered a pretty nasty gash, possibly from when Akula pushed her out of the way.
"Oh come on...it's not that..." Kaufman tried to explain, but was cut off by Akula.
"You did me, I do you." he finished.
"Oh I wish..." she responded.
"I'm sure you do.." Akula responded as he began cleaning the wound. Kaufman tensed up a little but knew the more the liquid stung, the better it was doing.
"Your bedside manner could be a little better ya know."
"Pipe down! This cut is way too wide, I'm gonna have to stitch it the old fashioned way."
"Oh great..." Kaufman responded with mirth, Akula, however, got her attention by lifting her chin so she was staring into his eyes.
"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you...alright?" Akula assured as he grabbed another suture kit from nearby. This one was a normal sterilized needle and medical twine. Akula prepares himself, slowing his breath as he sticks the needle through one side of the wound to the other, putting a little effort to+ tighten the wound closed. Kaufman breaths shakily, keeping her eyes on the newly scared face of the Sharkpack's marksman.
"When'd you learn to sew someone up, your Dad a surgeon or something?" She asked, Akula shook his head, with a half-smile showing on his face.
"Wouldn't know...I never met him..." Akula stated, Kaufman regretted asking the question at that moment. Akula picked up on this and decided to let Kaufman in on his family life.
"Dad died when mom was pregnant, he was a state trooper from what we were told. I was born in Roslyn, Washington. Small town, barely 1,000 people...me, my mom, and my sister." Akula revealed, this causes Kaufman to raise an inquisitive eyebrow.
"You have a sister?" She asked.
"Yeah, little sister...that's why I'm so good at sewing people up. Me and her would get into fights all the time with other kids. Mom wasn't really around much, she got into drugs when we were young. We got taken in by our grandmother, Dad's mom. She took care of us through high school, and throughout our crazy college years."
"I'm sure you were a nerd...or at least a bookworm," Kaufman said in a slight daze, as Akula finished sewing her wound shut.
"Took geography, so I had to be."
"What about your sister?"
"She actually went to trade school to become a mechanic, but she had trouble finding work. So, she decided to join the Colonial Marines." Akula stated as he cut the excess twine from his stitching job.
"So, she became a grunt, huh?"
"She's too smart to be a grunt..."
"You don't think she was..." Kaufman suggested, thinking of the horrible situation of being assigned to take Akula's sister out.
"I doubt it...most marine units are dealing with the New Wembley insurgency."
"You don't know what ship she's on or anything?"
"Nope, me and her had a little falling out when she told me she enlisted, I told her there were better ways to make a living, I even offered her a job as my spotter out in the wilderness on escapades. She took it as an insult, and that I was treating her as a kid...and that she could make her own decisions." Akula stated a little upset at having to remember the incident.
"Aww, you're overprotective," Kaufman said as Akula wrapped her arm in a bandage to keep it from getting infected.
"I'm not..."
"Oh come on! I remember at that bar when the team was first assembled you wacked that guy over the head with your drink cause he wouldn't leave me alone. Then you shoved me out of the way of that runaway line. You paid for it too!" Kaufman pointed out as she poked a finger into Akula's recently repaired cheek.
"Well maybe, I see a little bit of Ash in you..." Akula replied, remembering his sister.
"Ash?"
"Ashley is her name, I'd call her Ash...or Ashley Katherine when I was being serious with her. That's her middle name."
"Ashley Katherine Akula? Nice name.
"Actually she goes by our Grandmother's last name, her version of independence. She changed her last name to Stone."
"Hmph...still you've had my back through this whole clusterfuck of a mission."
"Well, I did make a promise. Plus, I'd figure you'd kick my ass if I let anything happen to you." Akula sheepishly stated as the gap between the two of them slowly starts to close.
"That and you're not exactly bad looking, so that's a bonus..." Akula added with a smirk, as he nervously looked away.
"Excuse me? Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Kaufman asked incredulously.
"It's the best I got..."
"Listen Scarface, you're not getting out of this one...ya know I've been eyeing you up for a while now," Kaufman stated as the pair inched closer and closer.
"I am a marksman, I pick up on things pretty quick...you short, cute, punk."
"Sure ya do, you big, stupid, good looking sharpshooter..." Kaufman said as she and Akula's lips inched closer together, ready for them to touch in a lustful collision. This collision however is avoided as coughing is heard from nearby indicating Denney was coming out of her unconscious state, both mercs break their trance and they look back towards Denney, who now stares at them with a look of intrigue.
"Do you need me to step outside you two?" Denney asked with a smirk, holding her head as she rose from her seat. The two immediately take notice of this and rush to her side, Denney is thrown off by this as she looks at both mercs with surprise.
"Thank God!"
"You're okay!"
"Ian's gonna flip!"
"You had us worried!"
Denney puts an end to their worried garble.
"Guys! Guys! I'm fine, really? Just a little hungover, what the hell is going on, and how did I end up in the med lab?" Denney asked.
"Umm, well it's a long story," Kaufman stated as she scratched her head, trying to summarize the brief, but varied events that had taken place since Denney had been knocked unconscious.
"I'll...leave you two alone, figure out what Ian's up to." Akula replied as he began to walk away, he, however, stops himself, and turns back towards Kaufman.
"Don't wait up...Lexi." Akula stated as he placed a kiss on his teammate's forehead, this almost makes Kaufman's legs turn to jelly as she leans on the medical cot Denney was using.
"Affirmative.." Kaufman replied as the team marksman exited the medlab.
"Okay, now you definitely have to tell me what's going on!" Denney added, surprised at seeing just how close the two mercs had gotten.
...
Earlier, in a secluded section of the ship. Douglass stares at his cigar as it sits burning in his old Rangers' ashtray, he also sips on a stiff glass of iced whiskey. The combat high he was dealing with brought back painful memories of past operations during his military career additionally, he was dealing with the stinging imagery of his dead team-members.
He had seen Strouman ripped in half with ease by a giant xenomorph that wasn't supposed to be there, of all the intel he had seen nothing mentioned such a creature, none of it even theorized about such a thing.
Knight's death was a scene he was too familiar with in his Ranger days, his thoughts clotted with the irony that his explosive expert would be taken out by explosives that weren't even his.
He had heard Sears' death and seeing as how the only members that appeared to make it back into the ship were Bonang, Kaufman, Akula, and Denney. He assumed at that point that the other members of the team, Banks, Riggs, and Jacobson had all met gruesome fates in their own right.
He felt a lot of things, regret perhaps. Above all else the mission was technically a success, seeing as how not one, but two specimens had been collected from the ship, albeit at a cost, one paid in blood and flesh.
As the leader of the elite strike team it was his responsibility to lead, but also his responsibility to make decisions related to the mission, and in that desperate hour of confrontation with the deadly xenomorph, he made a decision. He knew the team wouldn't understand, not from his perspective anyway. In the end, they were all expendable, the mission or rather the specimens came first.
Loera approached cautiously from around the corner, knowing that maybe what Douglass needed was silence for him to meditate his thoughts.
"Boss? Boss? Douglass?" Loera stated, pondering whether or not to poke the bear. He goes to turn away when he doesn't get an immediate response, but Douglass stops him.
"Al?" he said not taking his eyes of the brownish liquid in his glass.
"Boss? What? What the hell happened, I was monitoring the team's vitals and next thing I know half of them flatline within a few seconds."
"Intel dropped the ball Al, that's what happened. We encountered some xenomorph activity, a few dozen of those fuckers...than next thing I know I'm losing people left and right."
"They ambushed you?"
"No...not they. Just it, one of them...one big ass bug, size of T-Rex comes outta the wall, took out Strouman first, ripped him right in half. It then spit acid or something on some of our explosives, Knight got caught up in the blast, he bled out. I got the objectives out of there."
"What about the others? Sears, Riggs, Banks and Jacobson?"
"If they ain't on the ship, they're gone...send the report back to Earth. Tell them we're six sharks down, but we've got the crown jewels."
"Douglass, you do know what happens if any of us go down?"
"If we failed the mission, and didn't get anything off that ship, yeah I do. But, we did...two specimens, one of the parasites and one of the xenomorphs. They're in cold storage now, I want them to stay there till we get back to Earth." Douglass replied taking a sip of his drink and standing up.
"What about the team?"
"I'll debrief them later. For now, we get the ship back into space." Douglass replied picking up his cigar dashing the burnt ash off its tip. Both him and Loera turn their heads at the sound of approaching heavy footsteps.
They turn to see a very tired, bloody and pissed-off Bonang comes storming in his long hair drenched with sweat, and blood.
"Boss?! What the hell happened back there?!" Bonang yelled as Loera went up to try and calm him down.
"Easy Bonang!" the XO of the sharkpack said trying to get between the two men.
"Take it easy? Al you didn't see what I did, six of my teammates getting massacred, and where's our fearless leader? Taking the first rover out of there!" Bonang yelled pointing an accusative finger at his boss, who remained stoic and cold.
"Come on Ian! This isn't helping things!" Loera stated.
"Why'd ya do it Boss? I thought we were a team, you've never cut tail and ran in any other opp...why now?!"
"You want me to tell you the truth Bonang? Is that what you want? Well, I hope you can handle it, cause it's not pretty. Firstly, I make the decisions around here, period! Secondly, I saw the situation, we were facing something that wasn't supposed to be there, everything gets thrown out the window at that point. I had to secure the objectives, that's how it goes down. Sometimes the best laid out plans fail, you lose people, shit happens, and we lost six of the biggest badasses I've ever known." Douglass explained.
"That's doesn't excuse taking off like that, if you'd stayed around we'd have held the line maybe, gotten Riggs and Banks outta there!" Bonang yelled back, Douglass wouldn't admit it, but Bonang's argument had some merit.
"At the end of the day Bonang, we all signed contracts...we're expendable, you knew that when you joined up. We got the specimens son, the mission was a success, end of story! Now you wanna cry about it? Fine! But, you will not question my leadership, I'm the one in charge, what I say goes, and I accomplished the objective!" Douglass responded with equal volume.
"Still doesn't make it right..."
"Ya know what Bonang when we get paid, you can leave and hang out at a bar somewhere, cursing me till the day you day. That is unless you gamble all the money away again." Douglass finished, twisting an insult towards his team-member. Bonang had to be held back by Loera, just as Akula walked in.
"You sonavabitch!" Bonang growled as Loera helped ease him down.
"Come on Ian! It isn't worth it!" Loera said as Bonang finally backed off, Akula walked up to his friend.
"This your idea of a debrief?" he asked.
"Nope, just a difference of opinion, please tell me you have good news," Bonang asked.
"I do actually, Denney woke up...here, better take this to her," Akula said as he poured a couple of fresh cups of coffee from the pot that Riggs had made earlier.
"Thanks, I'll be back up for when we take off..." Bonang said taking one last look at Douglass, who now had his back to the man. Akula noticing the tension in his friend's walk stopped him briefly.
"Ian? Be cool." Akula stated as Bonang exhaled.
"Cool is my middle name mate," he replied winking, as he walked back towards the med-lab. Akula stared at his Boss and Loera, who gulped a little, knowing that Akula's "death stare" was more lethal than one of his headshots.
...
Mils booted feet marched across the gravel pathway into what appeared to be a large garden turned monumental display, where several statues, figurines, and plaques stood. All of them dedicated to the lives and ships lost to space, or it's exploration.
As he walked through the well-kept garden, he took notice of the memorial for the space shuttle Challenger, perhaps the most famous space-faring disaster in the early days of space travel.
He felt an unnerving silence overtake the garden, like the very souls of the departed had joined him on his walk. He knew he was alone in the garden, but felt someone was watching him, he noticed a statue on the far side of the path he was one.
He recognized its design, its shape, as he had spent several years within its holds, its halls, and its bridge. Mils walked slowly towards the structure, as before him sat the Nostromo Memorial.
The memorial itself was a model of the ship, with a plaque dedicated to all the lives lost when it "disappeared". He slowly approached the plague, the names of the crew listed from top to bottom.
In memory of the crew of the USCSS Nostromo, which disappeared in 2122. May their memory live on, and their souls be at peace.
Captain Arthur K. Dallas
Executive Officer Thomas G.W. Kane
Warrant Officer Ellen L. Ripley
Science Officer Ash I. Holm
Chief Tactical Officer Andrew N. Mils
Navigations Officer Joan M. Lambert
Chief Engineer Dennis M. Parker
Engineer Technician Samuel E. Brett
Mils slid his hand over each name, mentally recalling the last interaction he had with each person. It seemed there was a painful memory associated with each name, most of them involving the last sight he had of his crewmates.
Dallas cocooned to the alien's nest, Kane having the alien burst through his chest, Brett's corpse morphing into an alien egg, Parker and Lambert's mangled corpses laying and hanging in the depths of C-Deck.
He didn't care to remember ASH, he wasn't part of the crew, not in the least bit. He held his hand over Ripley's name, wishing she was there with him, to brace the challenges that their new world was presenting him with, not to mention the lack of companionship that he was presented with as he recalled that Ripley was very much keen on continuing a relationship.
He wanted to live a normal life with her, away from the corruption, greed, and evil that Weyland Yutani was capable of. His hand drifted down to his own name, smirking at the idea that he was technically dead, at least as far as the plaque was assured.
He continued to stare up at the Nostromo's model, remembering the last moment he saw the ship, itself blowing up in a massive fireball that almost took the Narcissus with it.
"Wish you were here..." He silently said, hehe slowly kept walking down the line of memorials. He takes a mental note of a memorial dedicated to the space station Sevastapol. It even listed the many hundreds lost when the station fell.
"Poor bastards..." Mils said as he walked back to the Nostromo memorial, reaching up with his long arms to touch the Nostromo, rubbing it's metallic and stone frame.
"Thanks for the good years girl, at least you went out with a bang." Mils said removing his hand, as the wind picks up around him, the former CTO walks out of the garden, he had made his peace with his dead crewmates by visiting their memorial, but he was still alive and he still had to make peace with his family.
...
Kaufman's head hung low at having to remember the grim details of the current reality, she had just revealed to Denney what had happened in the last couple of hours, more specifically what had transpired since she lost consciousness.
"That's the story..." Kaufman finished, silently mourning Jacobson's death, along with the other members', even though he was the most recent.
"We're the only ones left? Riggs? Jacobson? All of them?" Denney asked as she silently took a sip of the glass of water Kaufman had gotten for her.
"Yeah...and we're not exactly 100 percent either. Dev got pretty badly cut, pushed me out of the way when that winch went crazy, that's how I got this." Kaufman explained as she showed Denney her newly bandaged arm wound.
"The winch?" Denney pondered out loud.
"You seriously don't remember? When...Banks was taken by that bigass bug, he took the line with her...the winch couldn't take it and snapped. The line hit Dev, and almost took you with it, it knocked you out too." Kaufman explained motioning down to the ripped part of Denney's pant leg and boot.
"Shit...that explains why everything's a blur." Denney responded, examing the damaged fabric and rubber.
"Yeah, you weren't looking good for a while, but we gave you some of that miracle drug...the ummm what's it called?"
"W-X?"
"Yeah whatever..."
"That explains why I'm up so quickly, but how did I get here? I mean in the med lab." Denney asked looking around, Kaufman smiled to herself knowing the answer to Denney's question.
"Well...let's just say our friendly neighborhood Aussie carried you." Kaufman answered, putting her hands on her hips.
"Ian?" Denney asked, using her teammate's first name, blushing at the thought of him carrying her.
"Yep, poor guy was sweating bullets since you went down, he'll be happy, that's for sure." Kaufman stated.
"I supposed I should thank him..."
"Well, between the two of us...I think he might have a thing for ya."
"What?!"
"Oh come on I've seen you look his way a few times."
"That doesn't...matter..." Denney said, denying the truth as it were.
"I mean he did watch your back during that bar fight all those years ago..."
"He had no other choice."
"Come on Abby! He's not that bad of a guy, yeah he can be an annoying, cocky asshole. But, he's our annoying, cocky asshole. Plus, he's not exactly ugly." Kaufman stated, causing Denney to blush at the reality of the statement, did she feel something for the team's Australian shotgunner?
She decided to change the subject.
"Me, what happened back there with you and Akula?" Denney asked, defensively.
"That, that's different. I mean Dev's completely different, he's quiet and handsome, and stop changing the subject!"
"He did kiss you, and when I woke up you two were..."
"Okay! I get the point, look if anything that means you should give it a try, I mean at least talk to him, you owe him that much." Kaufman said, Denny wouldn't admit, but Kaufman's logic made sense. She didn't get a chance to ponder it as the door opened and Bonang walked in through the now open doorway.
"Denney! Thank God!" Bonang said before he walked up to the two young women, Denney moved to sit on the edge of the cot.
"I'll umm, leave you two alone..." Kaufman said, smiling at them both as she walked out of the medlab, closing the door behind her.
There was an awkward silence in the medlab for a few moments, Denney decided to break it first.
"Please tell me one of those is for me..." She asked motioning down to the two cups of freshly poured coffee Bonang was holding.
"Oh yeah! Here ya go! I didn't know you took your coffee, but I can just run and get cream if ya..."
"No, Bonang I actually take it black...thank you," Denney said taking one of the coffee's immediately taking a sip right away of the caffeinated concoction, immediately feeling the healing qualities of the coffee.
"Ohh, God I definitely needed that..." she added as she breathed a refreshed breath.
"Yeah, a parting gift from our friend Riggs...he made the pot." Bonang added and immediately felt sad at bringing up his dead friend's name.
"Yeah...I heard only half of us are left." Denney pondered out loud.
"Unfortunately, yeah. They all went out fighting, Rattlesnake finally took that big mother out..." Bonang stated
"He would go out with a bang..."
"He would, but how do you feel Denney? I mean you had me...I mean us...the team ya know, worried!" Bonang fumbled over his words as he tried to convene what he was trying to explain, Denney stopped him by placing her smaller hand on his large, muscular arm.
"Hey! I'm okay, I feel like I'm getting over a hangover, but that's to be expected and I'll take that over a concussion any day." Denney soothed.
"True, but still...I'm just glad you're okay. That big bastard was just unstoppable. I mean, he shook of an armor-piercing round like it was nothing, we unloaded everything into that thing, and it kept coming after us." Bonang stated, still shaken up by the death of his teammates, and the seemingly invincible xenomorph.
"I'm not sure, maybe some kind of mutation, or an accelerated evolution." Denney theorized.
"Well, you are the bug expert, so I'm not gonna tread on your toes. But, I'm just gonna take a stab here. If I remember Miss Wysocki's 6th-period science class most insect hives have a queen right? I know that these are bugs, but still what are the chances that thing was the queen?" Bonang asked, Denney however shook her head.
"Not very high. If it was the queen she would be attached to a birthing sack of some sort. Plus those eggs have all been there for God knows how long, so it couldn't have been on the ship." Denney continued, sipping her coffee slowly.
"What are you saying, Abby?"
"I think we went up against something else, something...worse."
"What's worse than a big ass queen?" Bonang genuinely asks, but Denney looks at him as if they both come up with a conclusion simultaneously.
"A King..." Denney revealed.
"Protecting his kingdom, protecting the eggs...and we walked right into his den." Bonang realized.
"He might have been in some form of hibernation, letting the smaller xenomorphs keep us occupied. Then ambushed us." Denney pieced together.
"Shit, no wonder we got slaughtered...I mean nobody said anything about a King bug, that just happens to spit acid too."
"True...there was nothing in the observations, past cases, most of them involved just one Xenomorph, never was there anything like this. We went in thinking we had all the answers, only to be just a different kind of blind." Denney stated lowering her head, Bonang placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, as you said...we're okay. We're getting out of here, and we're going home." Bonang replied, Denney felt soothed by the presence of the firm, yet gentle hand of Bonang on her shoulder.
"Yeah, what about Douglass? What did he have to say, did he at least give you an explanation?" Denney asked as Bonang removed his hand, perhaps in anger.
"Boss...hmph, he's focused on getting the job done, and securing the objectives. Which means our two bug friends." Bonang said in frustration, Denney sighs as well.
"I understand securing the specimens was important, but that still doesn't excuse him leaving so fast! If he stayed behind..."
"We could've saved the others...believe me I had it out with him earlier."
"Really?"
"We almost came to blows...Al stepped in then Dev came and told me you were okay. So, that got me in a pretty good mood, ya know." Bonang said sitting down next to Denney on the cot, causing the young blonde to blush at the proximity, as she took in his facial features, his black well kept beard, his long, dirty hair, and his blue eyes. He turned to look at Denney, the platinum blonde staring up at him, the two keep staring at each other as Bonang notices something.
"Your...eyes..." Bonang stated.
"What?"
"Your pupils are different, your left eye is bigger than your right." He clarified, Denney smiles and blushes lightly.
"It's a condition called Anisocoria, its actually common, but most people's conditions aren't noticeable. I can see just fine, its just something that makes me unique...more human anyway." Denney replied.
"More beautiful too." Bonang added, Denney smiled at the compliment.
"Your eyes aren't bad either ya know..." Denney replied.
"Why Miss Denney, are you flirting?" Bonang asked, this throws Denney off.
"Well, I..." Denney begins, but is interrupted by a message over the intercom from Loera.
"All team members to the bridge, we're beginning liftoff procedures. Liftoff in 15 people!"
"Jeez, talk about timing..." Bonang stated as he went to get off the cot, Denney however stopped him.
"What's up?"
"I forgot to thank you for saving me..."
"Oh come on Denney it's all in a day's work."
"No it's not...it could've been incredibly stupid, pigheaded, macho and...very very sweet," Denney said placing a kiss on Bonang's cheek, causing the tall Aussie to blush in his own right.
"I uh...uh..." Bonang said speechless, Denney hopped off the cot and motioned for the door.
"Now come on, let's get off this rock..." Denney stated.
"Right behind ya!" Bonang enthusiastically replied as he launched himself off the cot and follow the shorter Xeno expert.
...
Mils walked through the gates of the cemetery, it was a large, well kept hilled area with countless graves laying throughout the landscape.
Mils gently carried the bouquet of flowers meant for the graves he had to visit, it felt almost like a duty to do so, but in the end he felt it would become therapeutic. A way for him to finally say goodbye to his son and daughter in law. His legs strained as we walked up the hilled, paved road, but he knew that their graves overlooked the rest from the tallest hill. He finally arrived at the location where their graves should be.
He finally starts to see the outline of a pair of headstones, he turns the corner to face the front of carved stone slabs. He breathes sharply as he stares down at the headstones and the names carved on the front, the graves themselves were small as were the headstones since they didn't contain bodies, but rather their ashes.
Amanda Ripley Mils
Loving Mother, Wife & Daughter
David Mils
Caring Father, Husband & Son
"May They Rest in Peace, Never Be Alone."
Mils placed the flowers in a holder next to Amanda's gravestone, cleaning off the rare weed or dead flower. He noticed that the greave itself had been visited recently, perhaps by Ellen or their grandchildren. He stood up, preparing himself on what he should say, he removed the sunglasses he was wearing before starting.
"I umm, sorry I took so long to get back. Hmph, you definitely have a nice view here. Like looking out from a bridge on a ship. I got your message by the way, you sound like quite the husband and father. I'm sure I would've been proud of you then because I'm proud of you now. I'm sorry things happened the way they did, I'm sorry I never got to play catch with you, drop you off at school, or share a beer." Mils stated as he gulped back his emotions, he turns towards Ripley's gravestone.
"I'm glad to finally meet you Rip...I mean Amanda. Your mother always talked about you, when we were going through our ordeal on the Nostromo, all she thought about was getting back to you. She would be proud of you Amanda, proud of the mother you became."
"I'm so sorry we never got back to you two, we failed at being parents in that regard. But, when Ellen gets back...I'll help her in this new world, but also I'll do my best to take care of our grandchildren, though I doubt they need it. With all my heart I love you both, David I'm sorry I failed as a father, but I'll make it up to you someway. I'll visit you two, whenever I can...I promise." Mils stated as he laid his hands on both of the gravestones, he began to walk away, but soon the wind began to pick up around him, Mils even thought a storm was coming, he hears a thunderous noise, and looks up to see a flying shuttle, similar to a helicopter from the 20th and 21st centuries, Mils looks with wonder and then anger when he spots the Weyland Yutani logo on the side of the small craft. It lands nearby, on a flat unplotted part of the cemetery.
"What the hell is this?" Mils said as he put his sunglasses back on, out of the craft emerged Cavender, who looked around for a few seconds before she spotted Mils. She stepped out of the craft, removed her sunglasses, adjusted her skirt, and marching towards him in her heels. Mils puts his hands in his pockets and begins to walk away, not interested.
"Mils! Mils! Jesus Christ, your really gonna make me run after you?" Cavender yelled as she increased her pace.
"What a great idea! I might consider it!" Mils replied as he feigned running.
"Oh come on, seriously?" She said as she began to trot toward Mils, who stopped in his tracks, causing the young Weyland Yutani agent to slip and fall on her posterior. Mils looked down at the young lady, he offers her a hand which she gladly accepts.
"Thanks..." Cavender answered.
"Don't mention it..." Mils stated as he began to walk away again.
"Mils! Andrew, I have something for you."
"Let me guess my court date?" Mils pondered, as he kept walking with the shorter Weyland Yutani agent walking close behind.
"No, but it's important..."
"So important you landed in the middle of a graveyard, even the dead have ears, Cavender." Mils said, trying to be respectful of the departed around him, including his kinfolk. Cavender sighed silently, perhaps shamed at having to make such a big entrance, disturbing the peaceful moment Mils was having, she glances down at the headstones Mils was just near. Mils keeps walking away, but finally, Cavender reveals why she was there.
"It's about Ripley..." She stated as Mils froze in his tracks, he turned back towards Cavender, removing his sunglasses so that his grey eyes could stare down into her blue ones.
Cavender was used to dealing with men, their eyes would be full of fire when their ego was wounded when they felt threatened, or embarrassed. She noticed however that Mils eyes weren't full of fire or anger, they were firm, yet tender with care, concern, and perhaps even love at hearing Ripley's name.
"Which one?" Mils asked seriously, referring to Ellen and Elizabeth. Cavender though theorized that he didn't know yet about his grandchildren, so he must've been referring to Amanda and Ellen Ripley.
"Ellen Ripley, we've received a transmission from her...PR mission." Cavender said, still sticking to her cover story.
"What did it say?" He asked.
"A lot, too much for me to cover off the top of my head..." Cavender admitted.
"Something tells me you plan on giving me the full story somewhere else." Mils sighed.
"Yes...there's a community center nearby, about an hour's flight. You don't mind flying do you?" Cavender asked as she began to walk back to the shuttle, placing her sunglasses back on. Mils shakes his head in frustration, feeling he's about to walk into a whole new mess of trouble.
"I got a feeling I don't have much of a choice..." Mils mumbled to himself, as he reluctantly followed Cavender towards the shuttle, unsure on if he should trust Cavender's intentions, or even if she was telling the truth.
Cavender got in the shuttle first, using the handrails to raise herself into the shuttle, she looked behind her, eager to see if Mils was really following her. She smiled lightly at seeing her assignment following her and raising himself into the shuttle, taking a tentative, perhaps nervous seat across from Cavender, as the door to the shuttle shut, and the engines began to spin up and accelerate, the shuttle slowly raises and speeds off towards the community center, with Cavender and Mils, the latter of whom eager to find out what Ellen Ripley could possibly have been doing over the last several weeks.