Disclaimer: The author does not own Aliens or Dead Space.
Dead Space: Beast
by
CelfwrDderwydd
Chapter One
Planet Aerodyne IV
Wanat system
2497
Amelia sipped a cup of coffee as she read over a few reports on a holopad. Preparations for the planetcrack were going smoothly. The surveys have shown Aerodyne IV was quite rich in metallic ores, particularly copper and iron. But, that wasn't her main concern. She wasn't a miner, after all. She was Senior Science Officer. She exited the window and brought up reports that were more her field.
There thankfully had only been one accident, and it had not been major. Warton had some loose rocks fall on him, but he didn't even suffer a broken bone. The worst injury they had was when Jenkins tied back the guard on his plasma cutter and when it ran away on him, the heat burned his hands. Nowhere near as bad as it could have been, she knew that from experience. Mining was inherently dangerous, as anyone knew. Mining in space only ramped up the danger even more. She brushed a strand of light-brown hair from her green eyes and she looked over the rest of the files. Her RIG beeped at her, and she glanced and saw the time. She saved the files and stood up, stretching.
She was a tall woman, close to six feet, lithe and lean like a cat. She quickly gathered her needed things and headed to meet the colony manager. In the halls, she passed all manner of people, busily chatting as they went about their work or daily lives. Indeed, it seemed the same as any of the many days in the three years since they had first set down to survey and set up the colony. Amelia arrived at the door and knocked politely.
"Come in!" called the voice from inside. She opened the door, and an older, slightly overweight man sat at a desk, looking through various reports. He looked up and smiled. "Ah! Amelia! Come in, come in!" he greeted and she chuckled.
Sammers was a nice fellow, and few could believe he ran a whole colony. He was such a jovial, smiling man, most thought he didn't have the heart or brawn to be manager of a whole mining colony. He pulled a chair out for her and Amelia smiled as she sat.
"Thank you," she said and he grinned.
"Would you like some tea?" he asked. She shook her head.
"You wanted to see me?" she said. He nodded, smiling wider.
"Yes! First, I wanted to thank you and your staff for being so quick to respond to Warton, but what I called you in her was to tell you, if not for him, we might not have realized until later we found a huge vein of platinum!" Her eyebrows raised at this as he grinned and showed her the files and video. "I'm going to make sure Warton gets an extra share, since he discovered it!" said Sammers, excited like a little kid. She chuckled. Most colony managers would punish a miner who caused a collapse, accidental or not. She lightly shook her head.
"Well, that is wonderful news, and very nice of you," she replied. He smiled wider as he leaned back, flailed as he almost fell.
"Well, we got good people working for us," he replied with a wink.
"But I fail to see what this has to do with me," she said, and he only chuckled.
"Well, since this discovery got the higher ups so excited, I used it as an excuse to pull some strings and do a little somethin'," he drawled, his accent returning a bit, which only happened when he was hiding something. She crossed her arms and looked at him.
"What are you plotting?" she asked, amused. He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, just seeing about maybe if they'd let your hubby come to work at the colony," he said, and Amelia's grin grew.
"Really?" He nodded in reply. Amelia laughed musically. "Oh, Sam, that would be so sweet of you." He chuckled and waved as if it was no big deal.
"Hey, I know you miss him a lot, and a few of the stars aligned I could." Sam sipped some tea as he looked at a holopad. "Besides, I hear Brinks wants to retire, anyways, and the Castle could use another C.S.O," he said as he scrolled through the data. "Be a few months, though, for it to go through, but, yeah, I think they'd like him around here," said Sammers. Amelia hummed and nodded.
Terrance had recently passed his exams to be Chief Science Officer. She was so proud of him.
"By the way, how's the new equipment working?" Amelia asked. At this, Sammers frowned.
"Hasn't arrived, yet. I tried to get through to Wey-Yu about it, but all I got was static. I just hope it's only delayed," he muttered. Amelia nodded.
"I hope so, too."
They were expecting a shipment of machines from Weyland-Yutani Corp, the CEC's rival. Funny, that such a bitter rival would offer to help them, but maybe it was part of their renewed efforts to try to show up other companies and build back some of the power and glory they had in past centuries. Or maybe it was part of some backroom deal between the two. Who knows? Regardless, they needed some of the gear and equipment. She heard the miners were really eager for that F-89 drilling rig, never mind the needed plasma and other parts for other tools. There were also medical supplies coming as well, though she wasn't sure exactly what.
Say what you would, but Weyland-Yutani medical tools were some of the best, and more than worth the price tag. Sammers did a final look over the pad, then shut it off.
"I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I get any word on it. Anywho, I'll talk to Captain Tightpants and see about getting Terry transferred out here," said Sammers, getting a giggle from Amelia.
Sammers thought, as many did, that Captain Giles had a stick up his ass. The two got along reasonably well when face-to-face, but when doors were closed, Sammers had all manner of creative nicknames to call the Captain of the USG Castle.
"I hope the supplies all come soon. We're running a little low on blood plasma, Somatic Gel and some other medicines. And we could really use that synthetic blood they make, too," she said as she read over a quick list of supplies they needed. Sammers nodded.
"Fingers crossed. I'll get on their asses right away." With that, he gave a mock salute, which Amelia returned with a smile before leaving. True to his word, Sammers immediately brought up a screen to message the Castle and Wey-Yu and see where their damn supplies were.
XXX
The rest of the day passed relatively easily and without incident. One miner checked into the Medical offices to have a sprained wrist checked, but it was nothing a few aspirin and a wrap couldn't fix. She knew he was trying to get off work, but would need to get up a little earlier to fool her with that old trick. Other than that, the day was uneventful.
Amelia was glad to take a nice, hot shower and relax after a long day of work. She ruffled her hair dry and sat down to bring up her holopad and dialed a number. It took a few minutes, but someone finally picked up.
"Hello?" said a voice as the screen hissed with static.
"Hello, Terry," she said warmly.
"Amelia!" he said, brightening. "Here, let me adjust this," said the man, who coalesced into an image of a man with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Sorry if I called at a bad time, honey," she said. He shook his head and smiled.
"Not at all. How are things going?" he asked. She smiled.
"Pretty good. Very few injuries, and the one we did have had better than silver lining," she said before sipping some water.
"Oh? Tell me all about it," said Terry. Amelia smiled as she filled him in on what Sammers had told her. He was all smiles. "That would be wonderful. I just hope they would approve the transfer before it's all done," he joked. She rolled her eyes.
"You know it takes months and even years to break down a planet. I'm sure you'd get here in time to not miss any of the action," she said with a wry smile. Terry laughed at this. Amelia smiled radiantly. "So, how're you doing, Terry?" she asked seriously. His smiled slipped a little, but he tried to hide it.
"As well as can be expected," he replied. Her smile faded a bit.
"Terry," she began, and he stopped her.
"I just miss you," he said, scratching his cheek. She smiled softly.
"I miss you, too, honey. It's not easy to be out here and away from you." Terry smiled sadly.
"Hopefully, it won't be too long," he replied. She reached out and brushed the hologram as if she was touching his face. He did the same.
"I love you, honey," she said softly.
"I love you, too, Amelia," he replied. With that, they closed the link. With a soft sigh, Amelia settled down in bed and read a little on her holopad before turning out the light to go to sleep.
Author's note: Extra thanks goes to PyroFox117 for his support and quick factchecking of Dead Space lore for me, as well as to my Mother for her ideas and input, as well as her medical insights.
