The Prince immediately found himself on the island with Talon and Beast at his side. "What was that?" Talon asked.
"What was what?" the Prince asked disorientated.
"That injection?" Talon asked curiously.
"Nothing," the Prince said confused. He looked over the island and realized he was still alive. He checked over his gear for anything missing. Looking over his detonator, he noted that it wasn't counting down. "It isn't time to use that yet," Talon said as he looked it over.
"Just checking," the Prince muttered.
"Let's go," Beast said impatiently.
The three entered the cave and Talon prepared his probe droid. As before, the Xenomorph was spotted hugging the cave wall. Beast aimed at the Xenomorph but the Prince moved his arm just as he fired. The net pinned the Xenomorph to the cave wall. Beast brushed the Prince off annoyed at his interference.
"What are you doing? This one is my kill," Beast said outraged.
"You were going to miss," the Prince shot back.
"How could you know?" Talon asked argumentatively.
"I just know," the Prince insisted.
As they argued, the net sliced into the Xenomorph's skin causing acid to leak out. The net hissed and snapped off. Beast charged the Xenomorph but the Xenomorph avoided him. The Prince was suddenly hit by the Xenomorph and was punctured through the chest by the tail. The Prince struggled with the Xenomorph as Talon and Beast tried to get it off. The Xenomorph punctured through the Prince's mask killing him instantly.
The Prince was back on the island with his two comrades. "What was that?" Talon asked.
"None of your concern," the Prince replied annoyed.
"Let's go," Beast said impatiently.
The three entered the cave as before. Talon activated his probe, but the Prince stopped him. "What are you doing?" Talon demanded.
The Prince detached his bomb and took Talon's probe. Talon and Beast merely watched as the Prince placed adhesive tape connecting the probe and bomb together. "Send it," the Prince said to Talon as he activated the bomb.
Talon nodded and sent the probe down the cave. "Run," the Prince advised. The three ran as quickly as they could towards the entrance of the cave and then towards the ocean.
Beast tripped and fell to the ground twisting his ankle. Talon and the Prince looked back towards him. "Go!" he shouted at them. The Prince and Talon left Beast behind running as fast as they could. The bomb caused a massive explosion through the cave structure. Beast was caught in the explosion and was blasted apart. Talon and the Prince were thrown into the sea by the force of the explosion. Talon fell unconscious and drowned in the ocean. The Prince swam up to the surface and made his way back to the ruined island.
Once on shore, a Yautja craft picked him up. The Prince came before Yautja command and his Instructor. "That was a disgraceful victory. Your comrades are dead and could not be recovered for a proper burial. You didn't even fight one Xenomorph in combat," the Instructor raged.
"I completed the objective," the Prince said defensively.
"All you think about is the objective. You have no honor," the Instructor lectured.
The Prince became flustered and frustrated by the Instructor's remarks. Had his plan worked out perfectly, all three of them would have lived. "You're right," the Prince admitted.
"Say it to your father," the Instructor said.
"I prefer not," the Prince said. In a sudden move, he took his knife and sliced upward into his throat and brain.
The Prince found himself back on the island with Beast and Talon. "What was that?" Talon asked.
The Prince ignored Talon. "Let's go," he said. Beast nodded with approval.
The three entered the cave and Talon sent off his probe. The Prince motioned for the three to stop moving while the probe continued its path. "It has been destroyed," Talon said after a few moments.
"How far did it go?" the Prince asked.
"Half-way," Talon said bitterly. "I did locate our plasma cannons."
"Good," Beast said pleased.
"There are aliens guarding it," Talon added.
"We wait it out. Let them come to us. They will not go towards the surface," the Prince advised.
"I say we attack," Beast objected.
"I favor his position of attrition," Talon said.
The three waited at the entrance of the cave for several hours bored. The Xenomorphs started working on building an environment using their saliva and vomit. As expected, a lone Xenomorph curiously attacked them. The three worked as a team to kill the Xenomorph marking their first kill as a team. They decided to continue their tactic of attrition.
"I heard the Instructor talk about your father a lot. Who is he?" Talon asked.
"The King," the Prince said finally.
Beast snorted not believing it. The Prince merely shrugged. "The King would risk his son's life?" Talon asked skeptically.
"I am not one of the first-born. I am not even in the King's top ten heirs," the Prince downplayed.
"As a Prince, wouldn't they have taught you combat training against Xenomorphs?" Talon continued.
"I studied biological sciences and engineering," the Prince replied.
"It doesn't matter his rank here," Beast said dismissively.
"Have some respect," Talon shot back.
"No, he's right. We die or we live together. No one is left behind," the Prince said.
The three agreed gripping each other in a strong hand-shake. Suddenly, a new energy signature appeared on their masks. They immediately received data from the ship that a nuclear signature was nearby and closing on them. "How is this possible?" Talon wondered.
The three went outside the cave and scanned in all directions. A distance away was a human aircraft and the three immediately cloaked themselves. Without warning there was a blinding flash of light. Their eyes were protected by their masks but for a time they couldn't see anything. Next came the shockwave that knocked them all to the ground. A powerful wind circulated around the island and water from the sea splashed on them. Once the explosion had settled, their masks registered unsafe radiation levels.
A beam of intense light sliced into the island killing the Xenomorphs and all evidence of them from the island. A shuttle took the three back to the ship where they were quarantined.
"You have received lethal doses of radiation. There is nothing that can be done except to dull the pain," the scientist onboard informed them.
"What happened?" Talon demanded.
"The humans detonated a primitive neutron bomb near your location. We believe the detonation is coincidental. We were not detected," the scientist said.
"Why didn't you shoot it down if you knew it carried a nuclear signature?" Talon asked.
"We do not interfere in alien progress. To shoot it down would reveal our presence," the scientist said simply.
"We're all going to die now," Talon raged.
"No, I'll figure something else out," the Prince said charging his own detonator. The Yautja ship suddenly exploded killing everyone onboard.
The Prince found himself back on the island. "What was that?" Talon asked.
"You wouldn't believe me," the Prince replied.
"Believe what?" Talon asked impatiently.
"It allows me to go back in time to the die before whenever I die," the Prince said.
"You're right. I don't believe you," Talon agreed.
"Let's go," Beast said impatiently.
The three entered the cave and Talon was about to release his probe. "Don't do that. It will be destroyed down there," the Prince said.
"How can we map the cave without it?" Talon asked.
"I know this cave half-way through," the Prince said vaguely.
"How do you know?" Talon questioned.
"I studied the maps before we went here," the Prince lied.
The three walked through the cave with the Prince taking the position where Beast was. With perfect timing, the Prince fired his net gun against the Xenomorph. Before the alien could resist, the Prince sliced through it killing it. "Very impressive," Beast complimented.
The Prince tore the alien corpse down the ground. "What are you doing?" Talon asked.
"The Xenomorph exoskeleton is immune to the acid blood. We will use pieces of the corpse as armor," the Prince said as he took out a knife.
Beast saw the wisdom in Prince's actions and began cutting away as well while Talon kept watch. Once they were done, all three of them had pieces of the Xenomorph corpse on their chest, shoulders, arm, and back. The Prince placed his spear inside a Xenomorph tail.
Checking the clock in his mask, the Prince realized they needed to get their task down within a few hours or be caught in the blast again. The three cautiously walked through the cave. "Split up," the Prince ordered as they reached a fork in the cave.
Beast and Talon didn't favor this approach but allowed the Prince to go by himself. Using his mask, he began tracking the progress of Beast and Talon. The two were suddenly overwhelmed by heavy opposition and were killed. The Prince figured the aliens were reinforcing the position where the plasma cannons were located. He decided to continue his walk through his side of the cave remembering every detail. Coming to a dead-end, he realized that the Xenomorphs were now blocking the exit. Before they could reach him, the Prince sliced into his throat through his head killing himself.
The Prince tried different strategies using his two comrades to map out the cave. His assumption that the path Talon and Beast took led to the plasma cannons was correct. The Xenomorphs were attracted to energy signatures and swarmed around the plasma cannons. It took a few deaths to confirm this.
To lure the Xenomorphs away, Talon sent his probe through the wrong path. The Xenomorphs chased after it leaving the plasma cannons with fewer defenses. Using Xenomorph flesh as armor, the three battled through until they reached their precious plasma cannons. They immediately installed the weapons and took up 360 degrees security of the room.
The Xenomorphs naturally swarmed the room, but the three were successful in blasting them to pieces as they came in. The Prince fired and hit every single time as if he knew in advance where they would be.
"The queen is this way," the Prince pointed out.
"We should wait and plan our attack. The plasma cannons are hot," Talon said.
"We do not have much time," the Prince warned.
"Why?" Beast asked.
The Prince hesitated to explain. "The humans will drop a nuclear explosive near this island. The resulting radioactive fallout will kill us."
"Radiate their own planet?" Talon wondered.
"How do you know this?" Beast asked suspiciously.
"I have knowledge you are not privileged to. I am a Prince, one of the King's sons," the Prince revealed.
"Why wouldn't they have told us? To die by radiation sickness is dishonorable," Beast said displeased.
"Only the King and his circle know this will happen," the Prince lied.
"Why didn't you say something before?" Talon asked.
"I didn't expect everyone to make it this far," the Prince admitted.
Beast snorted. "We should be lucky we have a Prince amongst us or else we would have died for certain," Talon said bitterly.
"I have seen you fight. You attack as if you know in advance where the alien will strike," Beast noted.
"We have been to this same spot over ten times before. Every time I die, I resurrect to the day before. That is how I know where the alien will be at exactly the right moment. It is how I know the humans will drop their bomb," the Prince said.
"If what you say is true, then we can never die. We will eventually succeed," Talon realized.
"No, it only means he cannot perish. The two of us could die, and he could live," Beast pointed out.
"That is true, but I made an oath I would continue to fight until all three of us survived," the Prince said.
"So, even if you succeed, if one of us dies, you will kill yourself and resurrect back to the previous day?" Beast asked skeptically.
"I have done it before," the Prince replied.
"We have all died so many times in this hunt. We were never meant to succeed. We were sent here to die," Talon said.