Note: This story is not for most audiences. While yes, it has some comedic moments and can be heartwarming in certain instances...
It is still built on the foundation of Sci-Fi horror as well as a Rambo First Blood Part II revisionist style of the Vietnam War. There will be War crimes, blatant disregard of the Geneva convention, and later on body horror.
Viewer discretion is advised. Also own and REGRET NOTHING!
[Aliens (1986) 01 - Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare]
...
...
...
20th
Century
Fox
...
...
...
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
ROOSTER TEETH
...
...
...
[Aliens (1986) 02 - Main Title]
...
...
...
...
...
A BRANDYWINE PRODUCTION
...
...
...
...
...
A JAMES CAMERON FILM
...
...
...
...
...
MICHAEL BIEHN
...
...
...
...
...
LINSAY JONES
...
...
...
...
...
BARBRA DUNKLEMAN
...
...
...
...
...
ARRYN ZECH
...
...
...
...
...
KARA EBERLE
...
...
...
...
...
VIC MIGNOGA
...
...
...
...
...
KATHLEEN ZUELCH
...
...
...
...
...
SHANNON MCCORMICK
...
...
...
...
...
ALIENS
DUST AND BULLETS
[End]
Within the vacuum of space. The infinite void, the blackened ocean. There have been many names by many species to describe what extends beyond the confines of their world but they all mean the same thing. Cold, emptiness, and horrid dangers lurking within the abyss. But within this sector of deep space lyes a ship, floating aimlessly towards a relatively small planet.
It was a large vessel. Covered in steel grey armor with its 3 large turrets on top with it's last below, and while limited in number… they make up for it in potential firepower. It's multiple composite beams juting from its front, while looking extremally flimsy are in fact quite durable. Easily able to withstand reentry friction even at the highest of speeds. The planetoid itself however, is a whole nother can of worms.
The world itself is mostly oceanic with 4-5 major continents, with smaller ones and islands sprinkled in there for good measure. It is clearly habitable, judging by the glowing spots on it's dark side. As for the moon, the near destruction of it could possibly be attributed to a dense enough asteroid but that doesn't explain why it's still partially whole.
Within the hulking mass of metal is a fairly spacious series of corridors and the occasional larger rooms that vary in purpose. The grey spartan design of the interior sparked a feeling of uniformity and drabness, a common sight within the Marine Corps.
Boring and depressing.
The few decorations within the main hall did make it more tolerable. We pan over to a wall lined with pods that have frosted glass windows on top.
DING!
We see a computer screen on the right of the tube that soon comes to life and displays seemingly random information. That being a list of names.
Conner John
Hicks Dwayne
Myrntoth Raquel
Hazard Zach
Mike
Jeffords Randy
Zimmerman Caleb
Ingram Joseph
Charles Fredrick
Suddenly the lights flicker on. Revealing the rest of the room. It's mostly white with light grey plating along the walls.
VRRRRRRRRR
Two sections of it slowly flipped open, revealing the crew. Almost all of whom are male wearing shorts and the occasional shirt. All of them have pads connected via wires to computers for monitoring their vitals. One of the passengers groggily woke up and rubbed their eyes.
"Ugh, I've got to stop sleeping in these fucking freezers."
"You and me both." another marine replied.
We cut to the mess hall where the crew, properly dressed, were enjoying the nutrient rich cuisine offered by the Marine Corps. The very best in freeze dried piles of shit and shlock.
"Hey Fred, could ya pass that processed crap over here?" a blonde, well built man in his twenties asked.
Another man who would put bodybuilders to shame scoffed in reply as he grabbed some rehydrated eggs and passed them to the techie. "Would it kill ya to say please? Or have a modicum of manners at all?"
"What are you, my mother?" the following argument was tuned out as the only woman in the group sighed while trying to eat her food as the rookie of the group looked at the duo in confusion.
He leaned towards the brunette medic and whispered, "Does this happen often?"
"More than often rookie." she said with a sigh as she dumped another pound of not bacon onto her plate with a healthy serving of 'potato' as a side.
The rookie nodded hesitantly and took a bite out of his dry and waxy lump of 'corn bread'. He sighed in disappointment, "This tastes like breath of corn."
"I'd say you'd get used to it but then I'd be lying." the medic replied with a knowing smile on her face.
Yes the assembled crew were half-heartedly digging into the food, and in all honesty it wasn't even that bad if you got past the plastic aftertaste.
But one man was missing among the crew, it seemed that the team's leader was away at the moment. Doing whatever it was that commanding officers do.
But it seemed that he was done and was returning from a presumed meeting.
"Morning Marines." the man himself was the tallest of the group and possibly the most readable.
"Everything ok sir?" one of them asked.
"Well I'm afraid that's a complex answer. Depending on who you ask." he finished. He looked upon his troops' faces. They vary but all have the same look… confusion.
"Finish your breakfast, report to the hanger in half an hour." he then left the room.
They all gathered in the hanger. The fully operational yet empty room was devoid of activity apart from the soldiers sitting on the bleachers, waiting for the commanding officer to begin the briefing.
"So, I've got good news and bad news." he started. "According to SA/L/LY, we are lost. Far away from the UA territories and hell, far from what we perceive as the frontier."
There were some murmurs when one of them spoke up.
"And the good news?" the younger ensign asked.
"That was the good news. The bad news is that we're currently in orbit of an M Class Planetoid. One with a moon that was given the planet cracker treatment. And one that holds signs of a Type 1 civilization." he lets that sink in.
"Ah, shit! First contact?" Joseph asked.
"That's right, dead man. And because of recent protocols being put in place after the war… we have to go down there, in a diplomatic fashion of course. So that means only class 1 munitions. No Rifles or specialized ammunition. Just SMGs, Shotguns, and handguns." the marines collectively groaned in frustration.
"Normally I couldn't give a rat's ass about protocol, but this is not your everyday combat drop. We're talking about meeting an entirely new alien race! One that hopefully won't try to impregnate us or display our heads on their walls. So, I want us to be as non-threatening as possible." Once finished, the marines looked at each other and nodded.
"Fine... But the second it goes tits up, I'll bring out the heavy firepower." Joseph said.
The crew had gotten dressed for the occasion… IE winter clothing. One of the marines, a combat medic starts to asks,
"Uh... sir? Why are we dressed like we're in Washington during February?"
"Because Lance Corporal. I would like for us to head down to the more… less populated areas. Today's just a good old-fashioned recon mission." he replied before pulling out an M39 SMG and racking the bolts.
"Don't forget your gas masks!" he told them all, then ran to the dropship.
"You heard the man! Grab your shit and get ready… for a combat drop." Hicks ordered.
Across the frozen landscape soared a Cheyenne Dropship, also known as the UD-4L. This surprisingly agile craft was currently on approach to a designated landing zone. Nothing too special, just most of the flat and stable patch of land currently available in this region. The Landing gear popped out while it was touching down. There were a few cracks from the landing but it was stable.
VRRRRR
The Ramp lowered, revealing the crew dressed in the appropriate gear for this particular situation.
{"Radio check 1-2?"}
{"Yeah, we hear you, sir."} Zach replied.
{"Good. Now let's go poke shit."} he ordered before getting off the transport.
So far, it was not too different from the arctic back home. Aside from the rock formations, what look to be large birds in the distance, oh and a random floating city in around the same distance. Granted there was probably more to it than that but it was one of the more eye-catching features… Probably overcompensating for something now that he thought about it.
But that didn't matter at the moment, the squad had a mission to accomplish; while SA/L/LY tried to contact any nearby UA Com stations or ships, the Marines themselves would try to initiate first contact.
Protocol would dictate waiting for the go-ahead from a higher authority; their current situation made that all but impossible. So as the highest ranking officer currently present, Sergeant Major John Connor gave the go-ahead. Leading his team in what could be the first peaceful contact with an alien race.
{"Ensign Jeffords. ETA from closest alien settlement?"}
{"Read you loud and clear Sergeant. ETA is another hour away."}
The Sergeant nodded and continued to march alongside his team towards what scans showed what could be considered a small town if you wanted to be generous. But it didn't matter, they had to keep a low profile for the moment and make small introductions at first, build a rapport with the locals before going to the head honchos of the planet.
Another half-hour passed by, as the squad got closer they heard multiple gunshots coming from the village they were heading to. The squad wordlessly looked at each other, a silent agreement formed among them. Without a moment's hesitation, they began to jog towards where the gunshots were coming from.
In ten minutes the team made it to the village and saw what presumably used to be the inhabitants of the village. Although you couldn't tell due to the fact they were forced into an oversized blender. Blood splatter across the area, misshapen organs, limbs littered the walls, some looked to be torn in half, and others were… more delicately slaughtered. With precise stabs and from what was presumably their face at one point, they were stricken with horror and pain. Likely with added poison.
{"Poor bastards…"} Joseph commented.
{"What the hell did all this?"} Zach asked.
{"Judging by the lack of melty holes and no dragging of hosts… I'd say the local wildlife."} John replied.
{"But what kind of animals would do something… like this?"} Raquel asked, more than a little perturbed.
A sudden shift from inside one of the wrecked houses alerted the Marines. Charles, being the closest one to it, shouldered his shotgun and Mike slowly walked to his flank as small stomping could be heard from inside the house.
A pair of red beady eyes looked out from the entrance as a white mask like maw slowly game out, growling as it came out and revealed an all black bipedal wolf, blood smeared all over it's teeth as it glared at the Marines.
But before it could do anything a loud bang emanated from Charles' shotgun as the thing's head exploded, courtesy of a healthy dose of double-ought buckshot.
{"I think we found one of our culprits."} Charles said as he chambered another round into his scattergun. Just then, its body began to disintegrate, ashes spreading around the area. The marines quickly got away from the disintegrating corpse despite having gas masks.
{"What the fuck?"} Zach wondered aloud, the other marines were just as confused as he was at the sight of the pile of ashes that used to be a corpse in front of them.
{"Alright, ash monsters. Great."} Joseph said sarcastically as he began to look around uncomfortably. In case there were other ash monsters around.
John looked around as well, noticing something about the village. All the houses now held what looked like dozens of red eyes within them. All of them glared at them. It didn't take long for the others to see them too.
{"Safety's off!"} John bellowed out as the marines formed a diamond around a still intact fire hydrant, overlapping firezones formed on each side as more ash monsters came out and rushed them.
Joseph tossed a few HE grenades into the forming hoard while the rest of the marines fired sub-caliber rounds and double-ought buckshot into any beasts that got into their killzones.
Despite killing numerous beasts more and more after them, soon the team fell back into a nearby house while Joseph tossed the last HE grenade he had. The Marines quickly covered the door and windows with any nearby furniture and barricaded themselves in the kitchen.
{"This is Alpha team to Horseman of War. We need immediate close-air support and evac! PRONTO!"}
{"Hear you loud and clear Alpha team, We'll be on our way shortly. ETA ten minutes."}
John nodded, despite knowing that Jeffords couldn't see him. He turned off his radio and relayed the information to his teammates, {"Hold tight people! We need to defend this wreck for ten minutes"}
{"Alright, but we've got a problem!"}
{"What kind?"}
{"The civilian kind!"}
The group turned to where Hicks was pointing and saw a humanoid that resembled a young woman wearing a dirty white cloak and covered in cuts and bruises. Raquel rushed towards the "woman" and placed two fingers on her obscured neck. After a moment she turned to the rest of the group and gave a thumbs up.
John pulled out his radio and clicked it on. {"Ensigns, be aware, we have picked up a wounded civilian. Condition, relatively stable, but that might change fast."} As soon as those words left his mouth a crash was heard in the living room as growls soon began to emanate from there as well.
The marines grew silent as Joseph slowly grabbed a chair and propped it against the door as quietly as he could; the other Marines readying their weapons as the growls grew closer and closer to their location.
After a few moments of silence something slammed into the door with such force that it nearly broke in half. That's when Zach and Hicks fired a burst from their sub-machine guns , the rounds punching through the wood of the door and killing whatever was on the other side.
The Marines then fired burst after burst as howls and rapid stomping could be heard from the other side of the door. Soon another one of the wolf-like ones smashed through the door and was instantly blown apart by multiple wads of buckshot.
The ash monsters stupidly got stuck in the narrow doorway as the marines fired salvo after salvo into the growing number of beasts trying to rush into the kitchen. The lack of bodies piling up both helped and hindered the Marines, without bodies to take cover behind more monsters that fell victim to advanced space age munitions. But the lack of bodies also meant less obstacles for the creatures to get stuck on. But sooner or later the Marines would run out of ammo and then they'd be stuck between an angry chainsaw and a hard place.
{"What a fantastic idea it was to bring class 1 weapons only Sarge! What a great fucking way to start the day!"} Joseph yelled out irritably, firing slug after slug into any monster stuck in the doorway.
{"How the fuck was I supposed to expect an entire army of shadow demons to fuck us up!"}
{"You're the one who always says to bring more guns than necessary! SO WHY KEEP THE BARE MINIMUM NOW?!"} Joseph shot back.
{"Well how would you respond to heavily armed space men with ray guns that can liquify people, show up to your doorstep asking for A CUP OF FUCKING SUGAR!"}
{"I'D GIVE IT TO THEM IMMEDIATELY!"}
{"WILL BOTH OF YOU OVER GROWN TODDLERS SHUT THE FUCK UP!?"} Raquel yelled out, infuriated as she fired relentlessly into the crowd of demons. The Marines then grew silent and focused more on making sure that the demons didn't overwhelm them via superior numbers.
After what felt like an eternity of firing into the growing hoard several explosions could be heard from outside.
Followed by the sound of the dropship's GAU-113/B rotary cannon opening fire on the creature's outside.
{"Zach! Find us a way outta here!"}
Zach nodded and then began looking around erratically, then he found it. A window that looked large enough for everyone to get out of.
{"FOUND IT!"} Zach jumped up and broke the glass before looking outside for any danger. He then motioned his fellow marines over. One by one the Marines organized a firing retreat, buying them enough time to get out of the kitchen.
Charles threw his last incendiary grenade inside the kitchen before hauling ass to the evac zone alongside his teammates, Hicks, who was carrying the wounded civvie over his shoulder along with a suitcase in his left hand he found next to her.
As soon as they got to a clear enough part of the village John popped a flare and the Marines formed a perimeter around the flare. Firing at any creatures that got close. Soon the dropship landed in front of the marines and the team quickly boarded the vessel. With John accidently dropping his pack of cigarettes. Cursing quietly he jumped onto the crafts ramp and ran inside.
The ship took off as quickly as it landed, everyone sitting down on an uncomfortable seat as they gathered their breath.
Joseph was the first to take off his gas mask, "Jesus H Christ, that was an intense first encounter… I could go for a smoke or two right about now."
Charles sighed before taking off his gas mask, "Stop using those death sticks, they're gonna kill you."
Joseph rolled his eyes, "I'm 99% sure that some E.T. motherfucker is gonna get to me first, and I'm going to enjoy living while I still can."
"...Don't come crying to me when your lungs inevitably collapse."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it mom. Thank you very much." Charles just scowled as he sat down with his arms crossed. Joseph looked at his friend for a moment before sighing and looking off in another direction.
Their commanding officer however, was currently examining their plus one. He pulled her hood down revealing her… human face. The most striking feature however, was her. silver.. eyes…
Thank you to djpj7652 for helping me get this shit off the ground and to ManwithaPlan113 for editing it. Cover I commissioned was done by killb94. If you're reading this, thank you for dealing with my batshit insane idea for a story. If you like this I'll try to get the second chapter done as soon as possible.
[Update 11/6/21]: Decided to release a revamp of chapter 1 since chapter 2 is almost done.