Chapter 2

That night Ripley awoke from another nightmare and quickly moved into a seated position, wiping the sweat from her brow she took a few deep breaths before relaxing a bit. Glancing at the side table where Burke's card lay, she grabbed it and scanned it into the mainframe communication port. She only waited a few seconds before Burke appeared on the small screen looking like he had been awoken from a deep sleep, but he quickly seemed to wake up when he recognized who it was on the line.

"Ripley, are you okay?" he inquired as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Just promise me one thing Burke. That if we do find out it is the Aliens behind the colony going dark that we will wipe them out completely and that you have no interest in bringing any of them back for study," she demanded without any hesitation.

"You have my word Ripley, the stakes are too high to do anything else," Burke assured her, even though he was lying through his teeth as his plans did indeed include capturing a specimen for study, but he now knew he would have to be more careful in how he tried to manipulate Ripley. Clearly her hatred for these creatures went beyond the pale and that did not bode well.

"Ok I'm in, just tell me where to meet you," Ripley said after a few seconds of studying Burke's features to look for any signs of deceit but seeing none.

"Meet me at bay 19 at ten o'clock the day after tomorrow. We board the Sulaco from there," Burke informed her to which she nodded before cutting the connection before he could say anything else.

She looked to where Jones lay on her bed watching her. She smiled as she reached out and ran a hand over his head making the animal purr. "As for you my friend you are staying here you little shit head," she smirked. She would get Jennifer and John to take care of Jones until she hopefully returned. She grabbed the card they had sent her which would connect them through a secure channel so they could speak.

It was Jennifer who answered the call looking very much half awake, but she quickly woke up when she saw Ripley's face. "Is there something wrong Grandma?" she inquired in a gentle voice.

"I need you to come to Gateway tomorrow to pick up Jones. I've been recruited for a mission to LV-426 as the colony has gone dark and entire families may be at risks from the Aliens," Ripley responded as calmly as she could and was not surprised to see the look of horror that crossed Jennifer's face at this news. "This may be my only chance to prove the truth and shove it in the Company's face. The military is involved this time and that may prove handy in getting the truth out," she explained. "What I went through, what Amanda went through may finally have a purpose if we can make the military realize that Weyland-Yutani had been keeping a lid on the existence of such a lethal creature," she added.

"Can you trust the military any more than the company?" Jennifer inquired in clear concern.

"I think so. Their job is to protect the people not just the company's profit margin. I think if I can prove somehow that the company had a hand in the colony going dark it could be a real blow for the company," Ripley said as confidently as she could.

"I don't like this Grandma, but if the lives of the colonists are on the line then you have to help, because I know for sure mom would go if she was in your place," Jennifer finally said. "We'll be by tomorrow to get Jones, to be honest I always wanted a pet," she added with a smile.

"Thanks Jennifer. I'm sorry for waking you up so late," Ripley responded, feeling somewhat relieved that Jones would remain within the family and that at least this way he would remain safe even though she would miss him as he had been a constant companion since getting him as a kitten. "See you tomorrow, good night," she said before signing off.

"Guess I've gone and done it now," she muttered to herself and Jones who had crawled into her lap and curled up against her as she lay back down. "Don't worry Jonesy, I'll be back," she said absently to reassure her pet who let out a purr before falling back asleep with Ripley following soon after.

+AMTH+

The next day Jennifer and John arrived early and in much the same fashion as before, clearly they did not want to draw any attention to themselves. "Hi Grandma," Jennifer greeted her before hugging her after closing the door.

"Hey Jennifer," Ripley said in response. "John, thanks for coming," she added as she shook her son in laws hand.

"No problem, once Jennifer explained, there was no way I wasn't going to come as well," John assured her. "I'm as concerned by this development as you are. Amanda always worried that the colony on LV-426 would become endangered, but no matter what she tried the Company would hear none of her arguments," he explained. "And no one would listen to her warnings without solid proof, but that would require giving them the location of the derelict and that was not something she wanted to risk getting out," he added.

"I understand believe me I do, but this is my only chance to not only to make the Company pay for Dallas and the other's deaths, but maybe that of an entire colony in their search for better weapons and more money," Ripley stated in response. "I'm at least hoping not all of the colonists are dead, which is another reason I agreed to go, lives are at stake and I wouldn't be able to live with it if I left them to die by those creature's hands," she stressed with a sigh.

"We understand Grandma," Jennifer told her as she gently picked up Jones who had been watching them from the couch and began to stroke him, quickly making the cat settle down and begin to purr. "As I said last night, mom would do the same thing," she assured her.

"Jennifer is correct, Amanda would go no matter the danger if lives were at stake," John agreed with a prideful look in his eyes. "As I'm sure you've read she become quiet devoted to helping people after her encounters with the Alien," he mused with a smile to which Ripley nodded.

"I hope to be back within three months to pick up Jones, but if I don't come back please keep him, he's part of the family," Ripley finally requested.

"Don't worry. We won't sell him or give him up like I said I always wanted a pet and I remember mom telling me stories about playing with Jones when she was a child," Jennifer assured her with a calming smile. "That he survived the Nostromo with you is amazing, who would think such a little animal could survive contact with the deadliest creatures in the galaxy?" she mused before putting Jones inside the animal carryall Ripley had kept even after being found by the rescue team.
"We should leave just in case your Company friend pays you a visit to discuss the mission. It wouldn't do any good for him to discover we are in contact as I've said before," John suggested to which Ripley nodded in agreement.

"Thank you for reaching out to me and thanks for agreeing to take care of Jones," Ripley said as she surprised John by briefly hugging him and then turning to hug Jennifer for a bit longer before she watched them leave with Jones.

Once they were gone she collapsed on the couch and cried feeling greatly upset now that she no longer had Jones with her. He had been a constant companion and helper and now he was gone even if it was for his own safety.

+AMTH+

(USS Sulaco)

Ripley's first conscious thoughts as she awoke from her cryosleep was the relief that this time there had been no nightmares, just memories of how she had ended up on this warship heading back to LV-426. Letting out a few coughs she slowly sat up and rubbed her back before her attention was drawn to the marine on the side she was facing. He seemed handsome enough and very much unlike what she expected a marine to look like.

"Yo, Hicks man you look just like I feel man," a voice made her turn to see the man in the tube on the other side of her and he actually met the look of what she expected a marine to look like, rugged and scarred with a darkish look in his eyes as he glanced across her to where she guessed Hicks sat in his tube.

"Thanks Drake I feel so much better on hearing that," Hicks shot back with a groan as he pushed himself to his feet and tried to ignore the presence of the woman laying between him and Drake.

"Well move it people, what are you all waiting for? Breakfast in bed with a newspaper?" a rough loud voice echoed through the cryotube bay, making Ripley look up to see a dark skinned man walk up and down the bay with a cigar in his mouth. He looked tough and competent and something about him made Ripley trust him on sight. He was clearly a no nonsense by the book solider and she doubted he would bend for money. "This is another beautiful day in the core, another day to prove you are the best of the best," he shouted with a smirk.

"My god this floor is god damn freezing," another of the marines suddenly shouted as he stood up quickly gaining Ripley's attention.

"What do you expect Hudson, what do you want me to do get you a pair of slippers?" the tough looking man inquired after blowing out a load of smoke.

"Gee would you? I'd like that Sarge," Hudson shot back easily with a cheeky look making Apone snort.

"Yeah I bet you would like that Private, now get moving," Apone responded as he turned and walked away, still blowing smoke from his cigar as he watched the rest of his team finally getting up and moving to the locker room to get changed.

A meal was of course the next course of action after such a long period in cryosleep and everyone quickly grabbed some food and began eating. The marines easily fell into an easy going back and forth as they ate. Ripley sat next to Burke and Gorman at the small table at the front of the dining room, she didn't feel at ease sitting next to the marines as she did not know any of them as she'd had little time to even look around the Sulaco since meeting Burke and boarding the ship at bay 19 before being asked to get into the cryotube. It was here that the first warning signs hit, after a rather interesting ruckus from the marines that included Bishop and a knife, he joined them and offered some of the food from his plate which Burke easily accepted.

"I thought you never miss, Bishop?" Burke murmured as he noted the android was bleeding the synthetic white blood from a small wound in its thumb. Ripley felt her insides freeze as she once again saw the white blood that had come spurting out of Ash as he tried to murder her. She remembered as Parker smashed a fire extinguisher against his head making the white blood pour out of him and onto her.

"You god damn asshole Burke, why the fuck didn't you tell me about an android being on board?" she demanded in the harshest tone she could manage, making nearly everyone turn to look at the new commotion.

Bishop raised an eyebrow in surprise at Ripley's rather violent reaction to his being an android. He had known there were some people who were still wary of his kind, but he'd never encountered one before. But there was something deeper here he suspected. The raw hatred he detected in her voice told him that. Burke he noted had gone slightly pale, but was quickly recovering. He wondered what was behind Ripley's raw hatred.

"It is standard policy to have an android on board Ripley. Unlike humans they do not need to go into cryosleep, hence they are the perfect pilots," Burke quickly explained before he suddenly realized why Ripley was alarmed. The sections of her report concerning the android Ash quickly smacked him in the face and he almost wanted to hit himself in the face.

"I prefer the term artificial person myself Mr. Burke," Bishop interjected with a smile hoping to defuse the situation with a little humor. "Is there something wrong, something I can do to help?" he inquired. "Clearly you are not fond of my kind, although I can think of no reason why that would be so," he mused aloud.

"On Ripley's last trip out, the artificial person malfunctioned and it ended up causing some deaths among the crew," Burke finally responded as he again kicked himself for forgetting this important detail. "I'm sorry Ripley I forgot that detail in my rush to get this mission underway," he said in what he hoped sounded like remorse.

"I'm shocked. Was it an older model?" Bishop inquired truly surprised by this piece of information, he had never heard of such a thing, at least not in the last twenty years since the creation of the behavior chips implanted into each android.

"Yes it was an old Hyperdine Systems 120-A/2, this happened some fifty seven years ago," Burke answered. "Ripley is the victim of a very long cryosleep," he added.

"Well that explains a lot, the old Hyperdine systems were always a bit twitchy, especially if they did not receive constant checks on their systems," Bishop explained as he now understood the reasons behind Ripley's hatred and perhaps fear of him. It was logical that she fear him if she had lost friends and colleagues due to a malfunction in one of his kind's systems leading to their deaths. He felt sorrow at this as he realized that until he could earn some trust from the woman still glaring at him he would get little co-operation from her, even if needed. "That can never happen these days since the creation of the behavior chips and them being implanted in every new model that has come out. It is impossible for me to harm or even be ordered to harm a human being," he informed her.

"Just stay away from me Bishop. I don't care what new chip they designed for you," Ripley bit out. "Ash didn't malfunction, he was ordered to kill me and my crew in order to preserve the existence of the Alien and don't tell me otherwise Burke, I remember what that bastard told me and what I found in MOTHER'S com log," she spat as she turned to glare at Burke. "The company ordered him to do what he did, so stay away," she warned before she got up and stormed away.

"Is that even possible?" Gorman asked in shock after hearing what Ripley had to say.

"I'm sure she is remembering things wrongly Lieutenant. There is no way the company would do such a thing," Burke lied as best he could and cursing Ripley for actually daring to say such a thing, even if it was true, in such company. "The stresses of those events have clearly had an effect on her memories, the doctors said as much when the board questioned them," he continued to lie.

"I suggest Bishop you give her some space. She does not strike me as an easy going person," Gorman suggested as he finished his meal before leaving.

Bishop just nodded in agreement, but he was already calculating just what the truth was. Mr. Burke clearly dismissed Ripley's outburst as stress induced errors in her memories and while it was true an extended cryosleep could have affected her, she didn't strike him as someone unbalanced. No she seemed very much in control of herself; hence her claims may have some truth to them not that he could do anything about them. He doubted with the chips implanted in them that any such orders to do such harm could ever happen again, but he doubted Ripley would take his word for it. He would just have to wait and hope he could prove his good intentions.

Hicks and his fellow marines had watched the whole confrontation with some interest and it was clear there was more going on with their new addition than they knew. She clearly did not like androids and if her accusations were true then she had a god damn good reason for it. Hicks and some of his fellow marines were not blind to the blind greed routed within Weyland-Yutani and that its members were prone to doing what they could to get one up on each other through whatever means necessary. Hell a lot of his fellow marines in the Corps itself hated the company outright having had family members who had been screwed by the choices of those very people the company seemed to love to employ. He wouldn't put it past the company to try and kill some of its employees if it suited their purposes. He wondered about Ripley's comment about an Alien and suddenly he had a very bad feeling about this mission.

The End?