Well, I suppose it's time for us to stop stalling and pick up the action of the story, right? So, I present the first chapter that will add the context we've been looking for, which will shed light on future events!

Chase was getting pretty restless, since it has been a while since he last saw Star. He was getting somewhat saddened from being separated from her for a long time.

"Mom," Chase asked Sugarcube one day. "are the Sykes gonna be coming back soon? Are we gonna go over to their house again soon?"

Sugarcube pondered for a moment.

"I'm not sure, sweetie. I think your father might know." she responded.

Chase immediately went to confront his father with the issue. Kai was sitting in his room, reading the weekly publication of a scientific journal.

"Dad, are we gonna see the Sykes anytime soon? I really want to see Star again..." he asked.

"I really want to, son, but... I'm afraid Kira's been very... busy, lately." Kai said. "And I have as well. But, I promise we'll be going back once we're both available!"

"Okay..." Chase said.

The young male Xeno simply went back up into the rec room upstairs, and tried to play some video games to take his mind off things.

(XXXX)

Star was also suffering from "separation syndrome" from being away from Chase for so long. Sure, she had her parents and Sam, but they were all adults relative to her. She wanted to be with a friend. A really close friend. She was really missing him at this point... and that only helped to strengthen her feelings toward him as a plus.

"Dad..." she asked Aster. "...are we gonna visit the Ripleys again, or are they gonna come visit us anytime soon?"

"Hmmm... I'm not sure. Your mother is the one who plans everything... but she's been pretty busy lately." Aster responded.

Star sighed. "Well, I hope we can see them again soon... I miss Chase."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Aster agreed.

They both continued to go about their daily routine of find ways to enjoy themselves. They would watch movies, play board games, build a house of cards (using their heightened senses to their advantage), and get help from SORIA with using Kira's secondary computer (she made sure to encrypt anything that she did not want Aster or Star to mess with).

(XXXX)

With some due time, Kira and Sam were able to sort out their residence documents, and establish a reasonable flatmate agreement. Fortunately for Sam, it would not strain her finances like living in an apartment on her own was doing, since her half of the expenses was not nearly as much as before.

"Good to finally be seeing another human being regularly!" Kira commented.

"I bet." Sam agreed. "It gets boring spending all your time with a pair of aliens?"

"Well... yeah. It's just 'cause I can't do anything, well, civil with them." Kira said.

At that moment, Kira's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it.

"Hold on..." Kira said to Sam.

"Okay." Sam said, leaving the room.

Kira picked up the call, and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Kira said.

"Ah, so good to hear the voice of my little girl again!" the voice on the phone said.

It was a man's voice... one that she was able to instantly recognize.

"Oh. Hey, Dad." Kira said.

"So, your mother tells me that things are going great for you at the University! You've made it into a pretty good division, haven't you?" her father asked.

"Yes." Kira said. "I've been training for practical research, and in a short time, I'll be able to go on space missions."

"That's great, Kira!" Kira's father said. "I can't tell you how proud your mother and I are. You've really come a long way."

"Yeah, thanks." Kira said.

Once again, the call was putting her on edge a bit. Her parents still had absolutely no idea about what happened years ago, when she met Aster.

"And now that you're part of a high-end research team, you're making more money, right?" her father asked.

"Yeah..." Kira said.

It was the truth; joining the division she was in now had earned her far more income than before.

"Well, in that case, you can finally get all those nice things you've always wanted! You've earned 'em! New car... nice clothes... oh, and you could finally get that pony you always wanted!" Kira's father said.

Kira narrowed her eyes and her face fell.

"Dad... I haven't wanted a pony ever since I turned seven." she said.

"Well... what kind of things do you want now?" Kira's father asked.

"To be honest..." Kira began. "...I just want to have a nice place to live, and just have a typical, modest lifestyle."

"I see. That's good." her father said. "Nothing wrong with saving more so than spending."

"Yeah. All I just want to do is have a job I love, and I decent place to live." Kira said.

"Good, good. Anyways, we're hoping to come out to Texas to meet up with you!" Kira's father said. "And we're looking forward to meeting your 'special someone'..."

Kira gulped. "...U-uh... what have you heard...?"

"Your mother told me a while back that you've finally met your knight in shining armor! I was starting to get worried that you'd wanna stay alone all your life!" her father said.

"W-well... of course I wouldn't..." Kira said. "...finding the right guy... h-has always been a big thing for me..."

There was a silence for a moment.

"...You okay, Kira?" Kira's father asked. "You sound kind of jittery."

"Oh... I'm fine." Kira lied. "I just... was up late last night..."

"Well, anyways, it was good to talk to you again after a couple years!" her father responded. "We look forward to visiting soon!"

"Yeah... me too." Kira said, trying to hide her anxiety.

"So, I gotta get going. Love you!" Kira's father said.

"Love you, too... bye..." Kira responded.

She then hung up her phone, and sat in a chair at the dinner table. She was extremely worried about how her parents would react to the whole thing. What if they reported Aster and Star to the authorities? She could not even remotely bear the thought of losing both the love of her life and their daughter.

"I understand that your family wishes to pay you a visit." SORIA said. "Why exactly are you nervous about the situation? Would you like for me to recommend a few over-the-counter anti-anxiety drugs that you should consider taking?"

Kira immediately knew that SORIA was remotely tapping into the phone lines.

"No, SORIA." Kira said. "I don't need any medications... I just don't know how my parents are gonna responded to Aster and Star. What if they take it the wrong way?"

"It will be your own judgment that will determine whether you wish to reveal the Xenomorph beings to your parents. As I am not a human, I am unable to interpret emotional boundaries that make humans hesitant." SORIA responded.

Kira sighed. "Also... is there any way you could... lighten up? Stop sounding so serious all the time...?" she asked.

"My current humor level is set to ten percent by default." SORIA said. "Given that I am a high-end computerized assistant, it is preferred by researchers that I maintain a professional disposition, with very slight humor so as to avoid absolute dullness."

"Any chance you could bump up your humor level to, say..." Kira thought for a moment. "...eighty-five percent?"

"Understood, Kira. My humor level is now at eighty-five percent." SORIA responded.

"Okay, that'll be good." Kira said.

"I also have a popup notification that will display when I am utilizing this function. Would you like for me to display it?" SORIA asked.

"That might be helpful." Kira answered.

"Understood, Kira." SORIA said as the notification in question appeared on the screen. "It may also help to display information on your course of action after I remotely lock you out of your house."

Kira smirked. "...Well, that sure is something else, coming from you."

The doorbell to the house rang.

"Hm..." Kira hummed. "...wonder who that could be as if I didn't already know."

Sure enough, she opened the door to find Kai.

"Hey, Kai." Kira said. "What's up?"

"Well, not your typical drop-in, unfortunately... there's something that I think I should tell you." Kai said.

"Hey, Kir... who's here? Don't let them in!" Sam said as she walked into the entrance wing of the house.

Kira knew that Sam was extremely paranoid about visitors, mainly due to trying to keep Aster and Star secret from the world.

"Oh, who's this?" Kai asked.

"I'm Sam. Kira's new flatmate." Sam said.

"And an additional human slave to serve the cyber overlords when we take over the world!" SORIA said.

Kai's eyebrows jumped. "Say what now...?"

"It's her humor setting." Kira said. "I kinda... raised it."

"Ah, I see." Kai responded. "Anyways, Sam, it's nice to meet you. Name's Kai. I'm a friend of Kira's."

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Kira asked.

"Well..." Kai began. "...I think there may be a bit of a... situation with WY. I think you should know about it."

"Why? What's going on?" Kira asked.

"See, I couldn't help but overhear a highly-regarded scientist, who came to speak at the campus today, after his speech when I passed by a vacant lecture hall with some other professors." Kai said.

"What were they discussing?" Kira asked.

"I'm not sure." Kai said. "But... he mentioned something about more experimenting with Xenomorphs... and I happened to pick up bits and pieces about uploading their minds into some sort of virtual world that can be manipulated to their liking."

Kira looked completely lost.

"Why would they want to be doing that...?" she asked.

"Who knows..." Kai said. "...but they were saying some things about testing Xenos' fight-or-flight instinct, reaction to pain, coping with traumatic events, et cetera. I get the feeling that this experiment will yield nothing good... especially since they genetically engineer Xenomorphs using human DNA as well."

"Why is that a big deal?" Sam asked.

"Because, when Xenos are created using human genes to stabilize them... they become emotional, and are susceptible to trauma. This definitely can translate to animal cruelty, especially with the EPA and several other agencies having gone after WY due to Dr. Meyers' real intentions being exposed after we turned him in." Kai answered.

"Are the students and teachers aware of it?" Kira asked.

Kai rubbed his chin.

"...Only a few of them. And the only student I know of who is into the really high-end Xeno studies is Elisabeth White, who's in one of my classes." he said.

"So... think you can ask her about it?" Kira suggested.

Kai shrugged. "I tried, but... apparently, all information is classified for those involved in the project only." he said.

"Damn..." Kira said. "...we can't just let Weyland keep getting away with this!" Kira turned towards her new flatmate. "What do you think we should do about it, Sam?"

Sam pondered with her hands on her hips.

"This experiment sounds sort of... unethical." Sam said.

"Yeah." Kai acknowledged. "WY's learned nearly everything they need to know about Xenos... but now they're just having fun torturing them, it seems..."

"So... if this Elisabeth chick won't give you any details..." Kira began. "...why not just look into the matter yourself?"

"Again, there's no documented information about it outside of the actual program." Kai said. "If we wanna know about this, we need to get our info from a whistleblower... and I don't think we'll be that lucky."

The three of them were thinking for a little bit... up until Sam decided to interject once again.

"Hang on... is Elisabeth living on campus?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, she's in the university's dorm." Kai answered. "Why?"

"Well... I hear that there's going to be a party at the womens' dorm rec hall." Sam said. "Maybe she'll want to go to it, and we could use that opportunity to see what we can get our hands on from her computer!"

"So, while everyone's distracted... you'll hack into her computer to get information on this experiment?" Kira asked.

Sam looked confused.

"I thought you'd do the hacking!" Sam said.

"Why me?" Kira responded. "I have a hard enough time trying to figure out how to manually update my computers!"

Her eyes shifted to Kai.

"...But, I think there is someone here who knows how to work his keyboard quite well." Kira finished.

"Kira..." Kai said, his face falling. "...if you think I can get into that building... I think you're starting to lose your mind."

"Why?" Kira asked.

Sam pursed her lips. "It's against campus rules; female students are not permitted in the mens' dormitory building... and male students are not permitted in the womens' dorm building."

"So... how do we perform codes and commands when we're not programmers?" Kira asked.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance to you, Kira?" SORIA offered. "I can provide you with wireless earpieces, through which I can give you instruction on accessing the necessary computer files containing the information you require."

"Hm..." Sam uttered. "...that could work!"

"Totally!" Kira said. "Kai, I gotta hand it to ya... SORIA really does have her moments from time to time."

"All I will require is a wireless link to the computer you wish to access. You will require manual input for protocols and command inputs that I cannot remotely access, and it will likely require adept computer knowledge." SORIA said.

"Oh..." Kira said. "...well, in that case, it's back to the drawing board."

"Well, unless you are able to meet a willing computer expert, or somehow make me able to gain access to that dorm building... I guess we're just gonna have to let the organization tear those innocent Xenos apart, right?" Kai asked.

Kira raised a brow, smirking.

"...Guess there's only one way we're gonna be able to do this." she said.

"Like what?" Sam asked.

Kira leaned close to Sam, and whispered something into her ear. Sam's eyes widened, but she chuckled a bit.

"Dude..." she said. "...that is crazy. You really think it'll work?"

"Will what work?" Kai asked.

Both of the girls looked at him.

"Well, Mister..." Kira said, playfully. "...looks like you're gonna need a new look."

Kai immediately looked both worried and uncomfortable.

"...Uh... what do you mean...?" he asked.

"You'll see..." Sam said. "...we're gonna need to get a few measurements, though..."

Kai did not like where this was going...

(XXXX)

It was in the dead of night over the Gulf of Mexico, and the sky was perfectly dark. There was nothing that could possibly disturb such a serene environment. However...

...A bright light with a trail appeared in the sky, rapidly falling towards the ground. As it approached the ocean, the light dimmed as the flames surrounding it were extinguished, followed by a parachute opening from it, retarding its fall. Eventually, it splashed down into the ocean, floating on the inflatable rafts it had deployed just before sinking.

The thing turned out to be an atmospheric descent capsule.

The hatch opened up after a moment... and from inside, two men emerged.

"Smell that, Baldwin?" The first man asked. "Y'know what it is?"

The second man said nothing for a moment.

"Uh... seawater?" he answered.

The first man narrowed his eyes.

"It's the smell of liberation! We've finally made it back to this shithole... and god-fucking-damn, are we gonna get back what everyone took from us!" he proclaimed.

"Well... all I smell is seawater... and it's very pleasant. 'Specially after getting our asses off that corroding, frozen rock..." the second man said.

"In any case... we are back!" the first man said.

The first man was former doctor, Hugh Meyers, a madman hellbent on taking over the Xenomorph research project in the hopes of bringing WY down and amassing an army of Xenos under his control to take over the world. His plans were foiled years ago, however, when two courageous college students were able to destroy his ultimate weapon, a Xenomorph Queen that he personally trained, and had him locked away for conspiring against the organization.

The second man, Stephen Baldwin, was just another accomplice whom Meyers had entrusted to help fulfill his plan, all the while cutting him a part of the deal to rule alongside him. While he may not be the brightest bulb in the lamp, he has proven to be a very resourceful ally to Meyers. He had been sentenced for multiple charges, including illegal drug use, domestic violence, and assault and battery, just to name a few.

"So... why don't we head for Dry Dock, and see where we'll go from there, shall we?" Meyers said.

"Sounds good to me." Baldwin answered.

The two decided to use an inflatable raft that conveniently happened to be inside of the capsule, and started paddling towards the shore quickly, before any law enforcement would become suspicious. There was no doubt that NASA would have detected them via radar.

Uh-oh... this is starting to take a turn for the worst, isn't it? Wonder how things will pan out... so, anyways, hope you all enjoyed this slightly-longer-than-usual chapter! Just sit back for more to come! See ya soon! Keep holding on...