Chapter 5

(Hadley's Hope)

Apone listened to the order and took careful note that his commanding officer sounded a little nervous, that was a not a good sign. He and his team had listened to what Burke and Ripley had talked about, clearly whatever had made the hole had not been friendly and more than likely was extremely hostile. But they still had quite a bit of habitat to go through and it was possible the colonists were hiding deeper within the colony complex. That was highly unlikely he knew, but until the sweep was finished it was an option that had to be kept open.

"Ok break into pairs. Two groups of two's and one group of three and continue through the complex, keep your eyes open and your trackers on," Apone ordered as he decided it was time to split up. "Hudson, you and Vasquez are with me," he added to which the two nodded and moved to the junction which split three ways. He nodded at Evans as he and Cameron turned left while Jackson and Shepard went right leaving them to go straight ahead. He hoped none of them ran into anything to troublesome.

In another part of the complex Hicks too split up his squad the same way as Apone had done, he pressed forward with Drake and his eyes glued to the tracker he held. The complex was too quiet for his liking. How did three hundred people just vanish like the wind? There were no bodies and no blood. There were clear signs of fighting all over the place but nothing left behind to show what might have happened to the colonists. If this was the work of the Aliens they clearly had a way of disabling the colonists without causing too much damage to them as to make their victims bleed. He wondered if Ripley could shed any light of that.

"Ripley, the colonists are gone but there are no signs of them being badly injured now I know what happened to your crew was bad, but can you think back and tell if these things have a way of disabling a person without harming them?" he inquired into his mic.

"Yes they do, I don't know how exactly Hicks, but when Dallas went into the vents to flush it out he was taken without it killing him and we found no blood and later when I was trying to escape the Nostromo I found him in the creature's nest cocooned to the wall and still very much alive," Ripley's voice came back after a short but tense silence.

He knew she did not like to think about what happened to the Nostromo and her crew, but only she had the answers to the questions they still had. "Bishop any ideas?" he inquired knowing the android was listening in as well.

"My guess would be some kind of toxin that paralyzes the victim on contact, thus allowing them to be dragged away," Bishop responded over the mic. "It would make the Aliens work much easier and ensure there were few casualties and thus allow them to carry the paralyzed colonists anywhere within the complex and even outside it," he explained.

"Which explains why there are no bodies for us to find, any idea where the nest could be if it is within the complex?" Alexander inquired.

"I don't know Marks, it could be anywhere, but if memory serves me right it would not be anywhere in the open. It would be well hidden," Ripley answered. "The nest on the Nostromo was deep in the engine section near the primary heat vents," she added.

"That may be something to check out another time, for now focus on finishing your sweeps," Gorman interrupted before anyone could say anything else. "Keep anymore speculations to yourselves. We still need to find answers and so far we've come up with shit except that something happened to the colony," he told his men and even through the mic they could all hear he was growing agitated. "Now find me the answers we need," he ordered.

"Okay people you heard the man, keep looking and no more yapping," Apone ordered with a smirk as he chomped on his cigar while he moved on.

+AMTH+

Ripley glared at the back of Gorman's head for his dismissal of the group discussing possible problems and solutions. Hicks question had pointed out a tremendous advantage the Aliens had over them that she had all but forgotten. Their ability to paralyze their victims and drag them away as they had done to Dallas proved they could be even more lethal. That they had somehow subdued the whole colony was horrifying to her. The fact there were no bodies must mean all of them had been taken, the number of Aliens must be in the hundreds she realized and she had no doubt they were behind this, but Gorman clearly hoped this was something simpler to fix or answer. Burke however at least seemed to believe the Aliens could be here or at least seemed to believe it. His dismissal of her claims concerning the company being behind Ash's attempts on their lives had annoyed her greatly and made her doubt him. 'But then again him being a company man could she ever truly trust him?' She doubted it.

There was no more talking for the rest of the time it took the two teams to sweep through the main corridors of the colony, yet Ripley took note they did not actually enter any of the main command hubs of the complex except for the sleeping areas. Clearly those were being left till last. She wondered if that was standard procedure or something Gorman and Burke had planned in advance.

"Sir, we've completed our sweep there is nothing here," Apone finally reported after what must have been another ten minutes of searching. "Orders?" he inquired.

"Okay Apone take your squad and secure operations and wait for us there, Hicks have you completed your sweep?" Gorman responded and then switched to talk to the leader of the other team.

"Yeah just now, but we've found nothing either sir. Wherever the colonists are it is not within the colony complex itself," Hicks answered.

"Then bring your team back to the main gate and meet us there, we're coming in," Gorman ordered after a quick sigh, wondering just where the colonists were.

"We're going in there?" Ripley asked in surprise.

"The area is secure Ripley, not one blip on any of the team's trackers so yes we are going in to see for ourselves what we can find," Gorman responded as he turned to face her and gave her a mild look.

Ripley wanted to argue, but decided to let it go as clearly Gorman was not going to listen to her. She glanced at Burke, but he just shrugged his shoulders as if he was powerless in all of this and while maybe he was she couldn't help but think he could do something considering Gorman's lack of experience. But she kept quiet and just followed the two men to the door of the APC where Bishop now waited showing no signs of being affected by the weather. She watched as Gorman disembarked with Burke and talked to Bishop while they waited for Hicks and his team to return. She decided to remain inside the APC. She took a few deep breaths as she prepared to finally set foot back on LV-426 for the first time in fifty-seven years. Finally Hicks exited through the large door of the complex with Frost and Wierzbowski beside him. Ripley finally left the APC and closed the door before joining the others. Following behind them she couldn't help but hesitate at the door. Aa sudden fear had gripped her and she neither felt the rain or the cold wind, but she felt the fear creep up her spine and threaten to overwhelm her.

"Hey, you okay?" Hicks's sudden presence and concerned look thankfully broke through the moment and the fear reseeded much to her relief.

"I think so, just a little uneasy", Ripley said in response as she moved and finally entered the complex, missing the look Hicks shared with Wierzbowski who quickly moved up to cover Ripley's left flank while Hicks took the right.

She quickly took note of their presence and felt a lot safer with them so close by. She found she was beginning to trust Hicks and Wierzbowski. They seemed like good honest people even for Marines and she doubted they would have anything to do with the company's dark deeds. She still however had little insight into the rest of the squad, except maybe Apone. She made sure to keep her pace close to theirs.

"Sir, it is quite clear the colonists put up a hell of a fight, but the barricades they built to keep whatever attacked them failed and they were overrun," Drake reported when he noted Gorman had arrived, beside him stood Crowe, Marks and Dietrich. "But again we've found no bodies, but plenty signs of damage to the complex that could only have come from some kind of acid," he added.

"Shit," Gorman cursed as it was now clear this was no simple problem to fix so they could go home. The colonists were gone, there were sure signs of a battle but no bodies left behind for them to study to try and find some clues as to what was the cause. As much as he knew he shouldn't he was still hoping Ripley's monsters didn't exist, but the signs were not good.

"We'll head to operations through the medical bay. Maybe they left some documents that might give us some answers," Gorman decided as Drake nodded and lowering his smart gun he pressed forward toward the medical bay.

Ripley followed beside the comforting presence of Hicks and Wierzbowski, she noted Frost and Crowe just behind Burke and that Frost had one of the trackers and was keeping a close eye on it. She had gotten a good look at the device before they had left the Sulaco and noted how much more advanced it was to the one Ash had scrambled together to help track the Alien back on the Nostromo before he had turned on them, the range on it alone was double what Ash's device had been capable off.

"Crowe, Dietrich you both are first in, Drake follows to cover you," Gorman ordered as they came to a dead stop before a large door with a red cross on it. "Hicks, you and Wierzbowski cover our rear," he added.

All the Marines nodded and Crowe and Dietrich quickly moved to each side of the door leading to the medical bay. Drake instantly leveled his smart gun at the center point and relaxed into a combat ready position to fire should he need to. Ripley noted Hicks and Wierzbowski were now facing behind them keeping a close eye on their rear, while Marks stayed close to Gorman in a clearly defensive position. "On three, one two three," Drake counted and immediately on three the doors were pushed open, and Crowe and Dietrich rushed in with Drake right behind them. A few moments of silence followed. "Clear," Drake suddenly shouted and Gorman nodded and moved with Burke and Marks and Bishop following close behind. Ripley followed with Hicks and Wierzbowski.

The medical bay was quite large but in just as messy as the rest of the complex. As they moved in Ripley's attention was drawn to an adjoining room and what she saw made her want to be sick. In eight tanks filled with water lay eight of the facehugging creatures like the one that had gotten Kane. She jumped almost out of her boots as Hicks placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and just nudged her aside as he moved into the room while Wierzbowski covered them.

"Sir we've found something," Wierzbowski shouted and Gorman and the others quickly came back having somehow bypassed the room without noticing what was inside it.

"My god," Gorman murmured as he finally saw proof that Ripley's stories were not just something she made up, the creatures were real.

"Are those the same kind as the one in your report?" Burke inquired to which Ripley just nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet. "Unbelievable, how the hell did simple colonists get a hold of so many of these things?" he mused aloud as he stared almost transfixed at the creatures.

Bishop who had moved over to one of the counters picked up a chart and began to go through it just as Burke moved his face closer to the container he was looking at. "Jesus Burke don't be an idiot, these things are dangerous," Ripley hissed, but even as Burke turned to look at her the creature inside the container suddenly lunged forward and tried to attack him, only being stopped by the container. Burke backed away quickly in fear even as Ripley herself jumped before relaxing as she noted the container seemed to hold the creature in. Hicks chuckled.

"Looks like love at first to me Burke," Hicks taunted the company rep making the other Marines except Gorman laugh and Burke looked at the man in surprise even as the creature struggled to get at him. "Oh yeah he likes you man. Why don't you give him a nice big wet kiss?" he added.

"Knock it off Hicks that is not funny," Gorman ordered in a sharp brisk tone without even looking up, but it had the desired effect and the Marines stopped laughing.

Burke gave Hicks a slight glare which had effect on the Marine who just turned away. Ripley shook her head and took careful not that Burke was once again inspecting the two creatures that were still moving.

"Only two of the eight are still alive. The rest are dead as noted by a change in skin color the chart says," Bishop noted aloud as he read from the chart he had been reading. "Marachuk John L was killed while they tried to surgically remove the creature, it is noted in the file that all normal procedures proved completely useless," he continued. "The surgeon a Chester O Ling also noted the danger of the acid these things have instead of blood. It is reported he lost two nurses to the acid when they attempted their first removal," he went on. "I think Lieutenant we can now reasonably say Ripley's report on the Aliens being on this planet is accurate. I think we can also say it is the Aliens who are responsible for the colony going dark," he stated turning to Gorman who nodded in what looked like reluctant agreement.

"I have to agree, this is proof positive that what Ripley reported to the board was spot on," Burke agreed as well, finally turning away from the containers. "I guess we can also say this is proof that the Alien was behind the loss of the Nostromo and her crew just like Ripley reported," he added.

Before anyone could say anything the tracker in Frost's hand began to admit a loud bleeping much to everyone's surprise and Ripley began to feel her heart begin to speed up.

"Report?" Gorman ordered even as Bishop decided to take the chart's notes and stuff them into his pocket.

"It's coming from behind us sir, somehow something is coming up the corridor we just left," Frost answered as Hicks joined him and looked down at the tracker.

"Apone any of your squad near medical?" Gorman inquired into his mic.

"Er...that's a negative sir, we are all in operations as per your last order," Apone quickly responded. "Trouble?" he inquired.

"Unsure, I'll get back to you," Gorman responded before cutting the channel.

"So what do we do?" Marks inquired.

"Let's check it out. Drake you and Hicks are on point," Gorman ordered. "Marks you and Dietrich are flanking them, Frost keep your eyes glued to that tracker and Crowe you and Wierzbowski cover our rear," he added as he moved to follow Drake and Hicks who had already crossed over to the entry doors.

Ripley had to force her feet to move to catch up to Gorman, Burke and Bishop and thus allowing Crowe and Wierzbowski to cover their rear without waiting for her, they re-entered the corridor and began to retrace their steps. The beeping from the tracker quickly began to get louder and louder, Ripley forced herself to relax as this time she was not alone and they had a lot more fire power to defend themselves with. Suddenly a dark shadow seemed to jump across them and even as Drake opened fire, Hicks showed his arm up under the smart gun and make it miss its target.

"Fuck man, what the hell you do that for?" Drake demanded in outrage.

"Wasn't a hostile," Hicks shot back with a glare having seem for a short instant longish blond hair in a wisp of light as the shadow passed. "Ripley, I think you're going to want to check this out," he shouted back and was relieved Ripley didn't hesitate to comply and joined him even as he bent down to look under the nearby grate, the others shined their torches into the darkness and quickly revealed a small face looking out at them.

The child for that was what it was looked to be in poor shape, she was filthy and holding onto the head of a small doll. Even as Ripley reached into to try and grab the young girl she flinched back and then rushed out towards a nearby vent and quickly climbed into it. Her speed took the Marines by surprise and they failed to grab her. Ripley not willing to let her go quickly grabbed the flashlight Bishop was holding and squeezed into the vent after her. She ignored the calls for her to come back and kept on going. The vent was small, but she was able to squeeze through it, still it was a tight fit and thus she didn't stop until she found the exit and pulled herself out into a large and messy room although what its purpose was escaped her. She realized that the young girl was not alone, three other colonists were inside with her. Two were women at least in their twenty's and the other was a male who looked slightly older.

"Well it's about god damn time, a rescue party or at least I assume you are part of a rescue party," the man spat clearly angry.

"Yes I'm, my name is Ripley," Ripley responded knowing it was best to ignore the man's anger as it was probably well justified just as hers had been during her review by the board. "I'm a civilian adviser to the Marine detachment sent to find out why the colony has gone dark," she explained.

"We were attacked by creatures out a god damn nightmare that's what happened," the man snarled in reply.

"Carl please calm down before you attract their attention, you know better," one of the women said with a glare. "How many are you?" she asked turning to Ripley.

"Fifteen Marines plus their commander, one android me and the company rep for the mission," Ripley answered calmly.

"Should have known those shitty company pricks would send someone, they are the reason all of our friends are dead," the other woman who the little girl was holding onto spat. "They are the reason we found that damn ship," she went to continue, but Ripley quickly cut her off.

"Believe me I know the company has a lot of shit to its name, but right now that can wait. Let's get back to my team and then get somewhere safe where we can discuss this," Ripley said knowing she had indeed been right to be afraid that the company was behind the colony having any contact with the Aliens. Which meant either the flight recorder on the Nostromo's escape shuttle was behind them knowing where the ship was or she had slipped up during the review and revealed that detail. She let out a silent curse.

"Fine, follow me," the man growled as he led them out of the room through a larger grill in the back and quickly led them back to the corridor where she had left the rest of the team.

"Ripley that was stupid running of by yourself," Gorman started, but she was in no mood for any shit now that she had some witnesses to who was responsible for the disaster here.

"Save it Gorman, I found the girl and three other survivors," Ripley cut in much to the man's surprise.

"Are there anymore survivors?" Alexander Marks inquired as he found his eyes stray to one of the two women, to him she looked stunning even though her clothes we rumpled and dirty from the weeks she had clearly been in hiding. She seemed to take note of his attention, but quickly looked away, obviously she didn't trust any of them not that he blamed her.

"No, we're the last survivors and if you had waited any longer we'd probably be dead by the time you did arrive," the man spat as he glared at them.

"Carl just take it easy, we're rescued now," the second woman said soothingly. "I'm sorry we have a lot of issues considering we sent out a distress signal weeks ago but got no answer," she explained.

"We received no distress signal mam, if we had I would know about it," Burke instantly stated cutting off whatever she had been about to say.

"And you are?" the woman inquired with a glare.

"Carter Burke, I represent Weyland-Yutani on this mission," Burke responded and instantly any friendliness from the survivors vanished as they backed away slightly from him.

"The company can kiss my ass," Carl snarled only for both women to place calming hands on his shoulders.

"We can get into this later. I think we should reunite with Apone and his men," Ripley suggested before anyone could say anything more.

"Agreed, but before we go would care to introduce yourselves?" Gorman inquired already sensing the tension in these people.

"I'm Tessa Nichols, this is Kara Benson and our loud friend is Carl Williams and this little one is Rebecca Jordan the only survivor of thirty-five children who had been stationed in Hadley's Hope," the taller of the two women said in response.

"Lieutenant Gorman of the Colonial Marine Corps," Gorman said by way of response. "This is Hicks, Marks, Drake, Crowe, Frost, Dietrich and Wierzbowski and our android Bishop," he continued. "You've already met Ripley and Burke," he added. "Ok let's get to operations, then we can talk," he ordered. Drake quickly nodded and moved to the front while Frost and Hicks moved up behind them.

The group silently made their way to operations. Ripley however kept her eye on Burke and wondered if he had anything to do with what had happened to Hadley's Hope. According to the survivors the Company were behind the colony having any contact with the Aliens. So had they sent Burke to cover that fact up or was he here to find out why their plan had failed? She just didn't know and that irked her, but we would uncover the truth one way of the other. She would make the company pay if they were behind this mess. She would have revenge for her dead friends from the Nostromo and for the colonists who were now also dead.