Chapter 3 - Thirteen Years Later
The wind was howling on the surface of the desolate planet known as LS-119, although it was referred to as Deadsville lately, only because there was nothing living on it at the moment, other than a few hives here and there. The planet had been evacuated several months ago after the first bug sightings. The infestation needed to be eliminated before the planet's residents could return.
Over the sound of the wind was the sound of a dropship. It circled over a tall mound of rocks about a hundred yards away from an abandoned town.
The pilot of the dropship looked down from the side window. "Holding steady at 50 feet."
A female voice responded to her. "Almost there. Hold tight." In the background was the sound of gunfire and screeching.
Beneath the rock mound, inside a cave, four figures, dressed in heavy armor and helmets and carrying state of the art lethal weaponry, swept the tight corridor with gunfire. For every bug they killed, another took its place. But the small squad continued to advance, carefully stepping over the dead creatures, avoiding the pools of acid blood.
The alien drones began to retreat, heading back to protect their queen. They blocked the entrance to the nest, but it didn't discourage the squad of humans. They sprayed the drones with fire, burning the creatures alive. Once the squad was satisfied that their path was now unhindered, they advanced, pushing aside the charred remains of the drones.
The leader of the squad moved ahead of the others, stepping over a dead drone, or at least what was thought to be dead. The drone revived and grabbed the leader's ankle.
The leader unsheathed a machete and cleanly sliced the creature's arm at the elbow. As the acid blood ate into the steel of the machete, it was tossed aside by the leader, who then bent to remove the creature's lifeless hand, still clinging to the leader's ankle.
The alien queen, suspended in the air over her gigantic egg sack, screeched in fury at the death of her drones. Her arms flailed angrily at the approaching human. The other humans remained behind, but held their weapons up in preparation.
The leader moved closer to the queen and after removing the helmet, a torrent of blonde hair cascaded down, falling passed her shoulders. She smiled in victory at the queen. "And so it ends for you today." She lifted her pulse rifle and sprayed fifty rounds into the queen's face.
The bullets ripped the queen's head to shreds. The queen haphazardly fell from her suspended net and crushed a dozen of her own eggs beneath her. The other three humans moved forward and began to spray the remaining eggs with fire, burning everything in the alien chamber.
The pilot glanced down toward the rock mound again as she continued to circle the dropship. "How's it going down there?"
The female voice returned. "It's clean. They're all dead. We're ready for evac."
The pilot smiled. "Another one bites the dust. I'm coming down."
The dropship landed several yards away from the mound. The four figures stepped out of a hole in the mound and approached the drop ship. They clambered up the ramp and the dropship immediately lifted off.
Orbiting the lifeless planet was a submarine-shaped ship, decked out in battle guns and antenna. The Judgement looked battered and worn on the outside, but the inside was even worse. It was rusted and needed a major cleaning. None of its crew seemed to mind.
The dropship lifted into its cradle beneath the belly of the Judgement and came to its final resting place in the docking bay. When the ramp lowered, the four figures and the pilot exited. They made their way out of the bay through a door that noisily slid open upon their approach.
The woman was the leader of the squad of alien fighters. She was tall, a good head taller than some of her counterparts. Most men were intimidated by her height and she used it to her full advantage. But then again, she intimidated most men in general. By her sultry looks, by her piercing pale blue eyes, by her lean and muscular physique, by her chosen profession: bug hunter.
She made her way down the main corridor, continuing on as the rest of her crew turned down various other corridors. Exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on her. When was the last time she had slept? Thirty-six hours ago? Which was about seventeen hives ago. Seventeen hives and seventeen queens on that planet. A more than typical infestation. The same question haunted her mind over and over again. How did these things get from one planet to another?
Before she had a chance to reach her quarters, she heard running footsteps behind her.
"Lieutenant, Lieutenant…Gateway wants to know the situation on LS-119. They want to know when the residents can return to their homes."
She turned around to face Roth, her communications officer. "I told Packer to relay the message. Can't anybody do anything right on this ship?"
"Sorry, Lieutenant, but Mr Packer has already retired and…"
"Don't say it, Roth, don't say that you didn't want to disturb him because you don't seem to have a problem disturbing me. Now get over to his quarters and get the report from him. You got that?"
"Yes, Lieutenant."
She sighed heavily and waited until Roth dejectedly walked away before she turned toward the door to her quarters. When she stepped closer, the door slid open. She began removing her armor as she walked inside, leaving it wherever she let it drop, her eyes falling on her prized possession.
Like a ritual, she walked up to the gargantuan creature standing in the corner of her large chamber and touched its chin. The creature was dead, of course. She would never have allowed a living one on her ship. This was her trophy. Her very first queen kill. To have it so close to her made her fear the deadly creatures less.
The alien queen was a perfect specimen. Her head was lowered and her mouth was forever frozen open, revealing her jagged, razor-sharp teeth. If she had been alive, anyone this close to her would have been dead or been a host for her young.
The door chirped and the Lieutenant sat down in a chair in front of the queen. "Come in." The door slid open and Bishop entered quietly. She turned to look at him. "I hope you have good news, Bishop. I'm in the mood for some."
"Well, it's good news and bad news." Bishop walked up to her, glancing up at the immobile queen. Even though he was an android, he still got creeped out looking at the alien queen, always remembering how one of them had literally ripped his arms out during one of his missions with the Lieutenant.
"Give me the good news first," she said.
"I found him."
"And the bad news?"
"He doesn't want to be found."
"Can you elaborate on that?" she asked impatiently with a sigh. "Whatta you mean he doesn't want to be found?"
Bishop shrugged and quietly continued. "He's using an assumed name, Elliot Norris."
She smiled to herself, finally turning away from the queen. "Elliot?"
"I checked his file. It's his father's name. And Norris was his mother's maiden name. So it wasn't that difficult to find him."
"And you know where he is right now?"
"Yes. My source says he's in this vicinity."
"Change course. We're going."
"I'll inform the helm." Bishop headed for the door.
"And bring me his file." She got up and started to walk toward the bathroom and a much-needed shower.
"Rebecca…"
Rebecca "Newt" Jorden paused at the entrance and turned back to Bishop. He was the only one she tolerated calling her that. No one else dared call her by her given name for fear of getting a boot shoved down their throat and not in a very nice manner either. But Bishop had been like a father to her. He had always been there while she had been growing up, even when she had had that blowout with Ripley over her wanting to join the Colonial Marines. Bishop had gone with her. Ripley had wanted Newt to remain on Earth, get a good education and work in some office, doing some high-priced fancy desk job. She wanted no part of it. She needed to be out there, fighting her demons. Doing this job made her nightmares almost bearable. It gave her a sense of purpose and gratification to know that she had prevented future human deaths by disposing of any alien hives that were reported to her.
"He's not who you think he is."
Newt looked up at him, her thoughts drifting back to the present. "Why do you say that?"
"He's second on the most wanted list. He appears to take pleasure in ridding the universe of those involved in criminal activities, or at least those that rub him the wrong way."
She shrugged. "So? What's wrong with that?"
"Well, vigilantism is still against the law in most parts of the populated universe."
Newt shrugged again. "His chosen profession means nothing to me."
"He's unreliable."
"I've known better people that weren't very reliable."
"And he's also quite unstable."
"So am I," she said dryly as she walked into the bathroom.