Copper Luck
Chapter Two: The Briefing

Slight warning for some light-smut (nothing explicit)

Sometimes Eleanor Ripley was a woman of few words, sometimes she was a woman of action; however, right now she was both. When she entered Penny's room, she immediately ran to her side to hold her hand. Jonesy weaved himself around and in between Ripley's legs as she sat down. Penny stared up at Ripley with a weak smile, tears forming in her ducts, "I was going to come visit you first you brat."

Ripley dryly laughed, coughing briefly afterwards before kissing Penny's hand lightly, "too bad you had some complications right?" Penny cackled, smiling ear to ear at Ripley at her light-hearted joke. Squeezing Ripley's hand, Penny spoke softly, "did that Burke guy tell you - ?"

"Yes, he did." Ripley wasn't one to cut people off normally, but Penny knew what was wrong. Amanda Ripley, Eleanor's daughter - if Penny was missing her sister and parents, there is no telling how much Ripley was missing her daughter. Penny pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around Ripley's neck, pulling her into a tight hug. Ripley froze only to lightly pat Penny's back and then wrapping her arms around Penny's shoulders as well, pulling her closer so Penny's face was snuggly pressed against Ripley's neck. Penny felt tears drip from her eyes as she squeezed Ripley, sobbing quietly to herself.

"Shh, shh, shh," Ripley hushed Penny, rubbing soft circles on her back as her voice cracked as well, "it's okay, we made it. We made it."

"But at what cost?" Penny answered back, voice crackling as more tears came forth. Penny sniffled at Ripley's silent response and only the sounds left were soft cries and meows.

Penny adjusted her shirt, her lower abdomen peeking from the top of her cargo pants and stuffed her feet into tennis shoes that the hospital had supplied for her. Burke was standing outside the door when Penny appeared before him, he spluttered for a moment, "you clean up well." Penny's hair was slightly dripping wet, the curls in her hair were spring loaded, and when she heard Burke's comment she felt her hair bristle. She didn't respond to him, but instead she huffed and stared up at him, "you said there was someone that I would want to meet?"
Burke nodded, motioning to her to follow him which she did with some slight hesitation, "we've found your sister and her children." Penny stopped in her tracks, her heart began to hammer in her chest and she felt like she was going to throw up, "what?"

"Victoria Jarvis? She's sixty-nine right now with four children and six grandchildren; she was - well, speechless when we contacted her. We told her about your extended hyper-sleep and told her that, well, you'd look that same as you did fifty-seven years ago." Penny was nervous. Beyond nervous if she was going to be completely honest.
It was quiet as she walked just behind Burke, she didn't even question where he was taking her. She passed by hundreds of doors before they stopped and Burke turned towards her, "Victoria is waiting in the next room with her kids, she didn't want to, well to overwhelm you." Penny nodded and stepped forth through the opened door only to have to close behind her as soon as she stepped through it.

Her steel grey eyes automatically went towards the centre of the room where an elderly woman sat in a wheel chair, surrounded by three younger men and one woman who looked just like Penny would've imagined Vicky looking at that age. Penny's knees were weak and she felt the air leave her chest, "Vicky?" She asked shakily and the elderly woman stood from her chair.

"Mom!" One of the men cried out, but that didn't stop her from walking forward towards Penny. Penny dropped to her knees in front of the woman immediately surrounded her fragile waist with her arms, "Vicky - Vicky I'm so sorry." Tears poured from her eyes as she buried her face into her sister's stomach, "Ay dios mio, Vicky I am so sorry baby girl, I promised I'd be home for you and - and I never got back."

Vicky dropped to her knees as well engulfing her older sister in a warm, but sad hug, "you look the same - they said you would, but my God - cara de monda, you're here now. You're here now." Penny looked up at her younger sister trying to smile through the tears, but found it nearly impossible. More tears flowed freely and soon Vicky joined her, kneeling on the ground as well. Vicky's thin arms wrapped around Penny, engulfing her in warmth and love something that Penny felt herself missing. There was a longing in her chest, an empty feeling, that was filled when Vicky took her into her arms.

There was an exchanging of sweet words and nothings, ones that Penny happily gave into, "where have you been?" Victoria's husky voice asked her. Penny only shook her head and looked up with teary eyes, "floating in space mi hermana dulce." Victoria gave a strained laugh before attempting to stand up from her kneeling position; she couldn't however, so her knee fell back onto the floor with a slam. Two of her sons rushed to their mother's side, "momma!" They helped her up and Penny could only watch as they walked her back to her wheelchair.

It was early in the morning, nearly four if Penny could guess from the position of the moon hanging over skyscrapers. She laid in bed, stilled as a chill ran over her from the air conditioner that was running on MAX. A soft tapping on her door made Penny shift her arms from over her head and placing them on either side of her, pushing herself up from her mattress, "yes'm?" It wasn't quite a whisper, but it was loud enough for whoever was knocking to hear it. The door opened slowly and her twelve year old sister peaked around the frame of it.

"¿Estás todavía durmiendo?" Vicky's small voice questioned as she pushed the door open more, "hermana?" Penny smiled to herself before patting the mattress, "ven en una pequeña, he sido durante unas horas." Vicky smiled widely and entered the small, white painted room. Vicky jumped onto the mattress, laughing and smiling as her small arms encircled Penny's neck, pulling her for a close hug, "voy a extrañarte."

"You'll have to start talking in en ingles soon mi hermana," Penny pushed back Victoria's curled brown hair from her forehead and placed a kiss just on the side of her temple, "they don't take kindly to people speaking in other languages beside English." Penny's accent wasn't thick, but it was there and Vicky on the other hand knew more Spanish than she did English, her accent was thicker because of that. Vicky shook her head, "I don't want you to go, can't you stay?" Penny only smiled sadly and kissed her sister's forehead once again, "I have to pequeña ave, we need the money and I need the experience."

"You just graduated! You had that big party and everything, can't you just wait?"

"No, no, I can't - I've got assigned and everything, it isn't dangerous and I'll be gone a few years at most. I'll call you every Friday, okay?"

Vicky shook her head again as tears formed in her eyes, "you won't be here, I don't want to be here with padre no more; he's mean." Penny rolled her eyes and stroked her sister's hair, "he isn't mean, he just cares a little too much, you know? He's still sad about mama, aren't you?" The little girl nodded her head this time and buried her face in her sister's shoulder, "I miss mama too Vicky, but isn't Angelina nice?"

"No, she's mean too." Penny sighed, stroking her sister's hair slowly and softly, humming in her throat gently.

"She's new to this mothering stuff you know, she isn't used to it; she'll get better."

It was quiet, the only thing that could be heard was Vicky's soft sobbing and Penny slowly repeating to the girl, "don't worry I'll come back. It isn't forever, everything will be okay."

"Can't you tell me any more than that?" Vicky asked expectingly, her brittle nails tapping on the metal table as she pensively stared at her older sister, "or is everything that happened restricted?" Penny could only nod her head, "look, I can tell you that everyone on board that ship except me and Ripley are dead; the ship exploded, we're under investigation, charged for damaging millions of dollars worth of equipment. Other than that, I can't tell you much else."

Vicky sighed as she sat back in her wheelchair as one of her sons rubbed her shoulder, "mama, don't overthink it, papa wouldn't like it too much if you had another stroke." The information hit Penny like a sack of bricks, "you've had a stroke?"

Vicky waved a hand, "pish-posh, that was two years ago and Nicholas tends to be the over-thinker, who was the one that had two heart attacks? Not me." Penny felt tears in her eyes, she felt angry, and most of all she felt sad; she had missed so much of her sister's life. Whether or not Vicky saw the tears, she placed her hand over Penny's and squeezed it, "I've missed so much," Penny quietly said after a prolonged period of time, "you got married and had kids, you even have grandkids for Pete's sake and I just...Me perdí todo." Closing her eyes, she pushed back the rush of tears threatening to fall.

"We have pictures, from everything. Padre told made me take so many pictures, to show you," Penny knew what she meant right away, they did the same thing with their mother when she passed away; they took pictures of all the important things, like birthdays and graduations, then showed them to their mother's grave. It was really like Penny had been dead for fifty-seven years, "I can bring them by, Elvis here would be happy to accompany me; wouldn't you hijo?" The tallest of the three boys nodded his head and smiled, "Love to mama, especially for Tia Penelope."

"Penny," Penny gasped out, "call me Aunty Penny." All of her nephews, and niece, nodded their heads and together spoke with happy grins, "of course Tia Penny."

Penny sat and talked for hours with her sister and her children, and when visiting time was over she even escorted them outside. One final hug and Vicky left in the shuttle with her kids, "I'll send the pictures, all of them." Were Vicky's final words before the shuttle departed and Penny could only stand there awestruck; that was her sister. Those were her kids. Her father and step-mother had both passed away twenty years ago, but her father still had hope that one day they'd find Penny; find her and bring her home.

The walk back to her room was silent, even the nurse that was escorting her wasn't sure what to say. When they finally arrived, both Burke and Ripley were waiting for her. Penny greeted Ripley with a smile and Burke with a nod, "is something wrong?" With her emotions on hyper-drive, Penny could easily tell something was off by the tension hanging in the air, "did something happen?"

"The meeting has been set for 0930 tomorrow morning, Ripley thought it would be a good idea to tell you together."

"Scheduled, so soon?" Penny sighed, rubbing her temples as they hummed with pain, "do they want to hear the gory details so soon? About how everyone was killed? Murdered by an unknown organism, how we barely made it?" Ripley stepped forward, placing a hand on Penny's shoulder, but Penny stepped back and easily shook off Ripley's hand, "do they want to know about how that, that thing burst from h-his chest and killed him? The blood was everywhere, I couldn't scrub hard enough to erase it all; it got in my eyes, on my hands - is that what they want to know Mister Burke?" Venom dripped off of every word that she said, and Burke flinched back when she said his name. Ripley grabbed Penny by the shoulders as she started to shake, "get ahold of yourself Jarvis."

"I have perfect control over my emotions Ripley!" Penny snapped, trying to escape Ripley's hold, but failing, "I ca-can't. I don't want to talk about it anymore, I don't want to think about it; they're all dead. Dead. All the company cares about is their fucking money." Ripley pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, stroking the hysterical woman's hair down as she whispered: "I know, I know."

It was quiet for a moment too long for Burke's liking as he coughed into his hand and smiled awkwardly, "Don't be late tomorrow girls, trust me when I say you don't want to be late." When he left the room, Penny felt like screaming and she did. Ripley held her close, quietly humming a long-lost song until Penny fell to her knees taking Ripley with her.

"You're okay, you're here with me. Not there. We're okay, it'll all be fine."

Burke met them exactly at 0900 outside of their rooms, his usual awkward smile still in place. Penny, as well as Ripley, were dressed in all white with white sneakers as well; everything about them screamed hospital. The trio walked down the hallway in perfect silence until they came to elevator, "everything you saw is in the report, correct?" The elevator doors shut behind them and Ripley was the first to respond, "yes, everything is in there - gory details and all." Burke looked over to Penny, the same question still hanging between them, "of course Burke, I wouldn't want to let down the Company; it would be a God awful shame."

The elevator dinged when they arrived at their location, "you've read my and Penny's deposition... it's complete and accurate." Penny walked shoulder to shoulder with Ripley as Burke headed them.

"Look, I believe you, but there are going to be some heavyweights in there. You got Feds, you got interstellar commerce commission, you got colonial administration, insurance company guys..."
"We get the picture." Penny snapped as she scratched at her forearm, a sign of her nervousness; she even began to pick at her nails once she was finished.

Burke sighed, "just tell them what happened. The important thing is to stay cool and unemotional." Burke glanced over to Penny before they entered the room.

The thing was, what Burke forgot to mention was how hard that last thing was going to be. The first one to break was Ripley, surprisingly; however, as soon as the suit-jockeys starting questioning her, Penny snapped as well, "Do you people have earwax, or what? We have been here three hours. How many different ways do you want us to tell the same damn story?" Ripley slammed her hands down on the table, shaking at least three of the right members of the so-called 'board of inquiry'. As soon as Penny turned around, she is greeted with Parker's face grinning ear to ear like it was a damn mugshot; God, she missed that loon.

"Look at it from our perspective. You freely admit to detonating the engines of, and thereby destroying, an M-Class star-freighter. A rather expensive piece of hardware..." Van Leuwen started, a sort of frowning-smile on his thin lips; he knew what he was doing, he was winding both of them up. What an ass, Penny thought shortly before snorting quietly.

"Forty-two million in adjusted dollars. That's minus payload, of course." The insurance rep announced, his voice as dry as his skin.

"Oh that's right," Penny cried, "I forgot how much your money means to you, obviously more than the handful of dead men and women that died on that fucking M-class piece of shit. Madre de Dios, ayúdame ahora antes de llegar a uno de ellos." Van Leuwen narrowed his eyes at Penny before continuing: "the shuttle's flight recorder corroborates some elements of your account. That the Nostromo set down on LV-426, an unsurveyed planet, at that time. That repairs were made. That it resumed its course and was subsequently set for self-destruct. By you two. For reasons unknown."

"Look, we told you..." Ripley began, but was cut off by him once again, "it did not, however, contain any entries concerning the hostile life form you allegedly picked up."

Penny blanched, looking over the board member's faces as they all nodded their heads, "then somebody's gotten to it... doctored the damn recorder. Who had access to it?"

The Extrasolar Colonization Administration Representative just shakes his head at what Penny says, "Would you just listen to yourselves for one minute?" The older woman glared openly at the Spanish woman before darting her eyes over towards Ripley. Van Leuwen just sighs once again before rubbing his temples, "the analysis team which went over your shuttle centimeter by centimeter found no physical evidence of the creature you describe..."

Ripley slams her hands against the table once more just as Penny cries out in frustration, "that's because we blew it out the Goddamn airlock!" Ripley looked over at Penny and nodded, "like we stated previously."

The insurance man turned towards the ECA rep and asked her simply, "are there any species like this 'hostile organism' on LV-426?" The woman shook her head, "No. It's a rock. No indigenous life larger than a simple virus." Ripley grit her teeth in frustration, so audibly it made Penny cringe, "I told you, it wasn't indigenous. There was an alien spacecraft there," Ripley breathed out slowly, eyeing Penny, "a derelict ship. We homed on its beacon..."

"I was part of the team that went into the spacecraft, it wasn't human. The entire craft was black, venous almost - shit - stuff - look whatever it was, it was dripping off the walls like strings of saliva. There was a hatchery down below, I don't know how many eggs were down there, but it - it attached to Kane's helmet, ate through it and latched onto his face..." The image playing in Penny's head made her choke on tears.

"To be perfectly frank, we've surveyed over three hundred worlds and no one's ever reported a creature which, using your words...," The ECA Rep looked down at their reports, reading directly from it as she continued, "...'gestates in a living human host' and has 'concentrated molecular acid for blood.'" Ripley glanced at Burke, silent at the far end of the table. His expression is grim as Penny just stands there with her forehead placed in her hand. Her mouth hardens as a bit as the old nail-eating Ripley surfaces.

"Look, I can see where this is going. But I'm telling you those things exist. Back on that planetoid is an alien ship and on that ship are thousands of eggs. Thousands. Do you understand? I suggest you find it, using the flight recorder's data. Find it and deal with it - before one of your survey teams comes back with a little surprise..." As her voice began to become heated, Van Leuwen cut her off with a signal of his hand, "thank you, Officer Ripley. That will be..."

However, Ripley continued, "...because just one of those things managed to kill my entire crew, within twelve hours of hatching..." Van Leuwen stands quickly and seemingly out of patience.

"Thank you, that will be all." Ripley stared him down, glowering at the board before Penny barks out a quick and concise response, "That's not all, Goddamnit! If those things get back here, that will be all. Then you can just kiss it good-bye, Jack! Just kiss it goodbye." Sweat formed on Penny's forehead as she yelled out, and she couldn't help but turn as she shook with anger and frustration. As she turned, she was taken back as Kane's sweet, smiling face stared back at her. Tears leaked out of her eyes and she shook with less anger and more sadness.

Ripley kicked the wall down the hallway as Burke got something from the vending machine, "you had them eating out of your hands, kiddos." He grabbed the donuts that dropped from the machine and sipped his coffee that he bought a few seconds prior.

"They had their minds made up before we went in there," Ripley remarked as she leaned against the wall, pushing her hair back from her face as Penny sat down on a bench nearby, her head between her legs as she took some deep breaths, "they think we're head cases."

"Of course they do," Penny laughed dryly, "I would to if I wasn't there. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it seems hard to believe."

"You are head cases," Burke replied cheerfully as if that would make them feel better, "have some donuts." He offered Ripley one, but she refused and glanced over at Penny, but she just shook her head.

"You have to come see Kane," Dallas spoke carefully over the intercom that Penny's station had, "there's been a development." Penny felt her heart leap up into her throat as he spoke. The flashing red light on her station flashed a few more times before she pressed the green button next to it, "is he - is he..."

"Just come and see." Dallas's voice wasn't one of sadness, so Penny could only think of one thing: he was better. She pushed herself out of her chair and ran towards the doors, which opened automatically as she approached it. Down the hallway and down a ladder, she headed towards her main office; the infirmary. When she arrived she was greeted with the most splendid sight she had seen since she got on the damn spacecraft, Kane was awake and he was smiling at her.

"Penny - " Kane wasn't able to finish his sentence as the young woman engulfed him in a tight embrace. Of course, the other crew members were in the room, but the most they did was snicker. Kane and hers relationship wasn't exactly unknown, in fact Dallas was the first one of find out about the two of them and soon the news spread like wildfire.

"I - we thought we lost you." Tears prickled at her eyes, and Dallas waved everyone out of the room, mumbling about giving the two 'alone time'. As soon as the door slid shut, Penny placed her lips over his. The kiss wasn't chaste, it was passionate and heated; he kisses were like water for a dying woman. Her lips left his and they trailed along his jawline and down his neck, "I thought I lost you." She mumbled against his neck, placing an innocent kiss against his Adam's apple. His fingers laced into her hair as he tugged on it gently, forcing her to meet him face to face.

"I'm never lost when you're around Penny," he brought his lips to meet hers once more as her hands traveled over his chest, the only thing between his skin and her hands being a flimsy, white shirt, "I couldn't leave you, you complete me you know."

Her hand slammed his chest harshly, "don't be a dick, dios mio novio." He chuckled lightly before kissing her again and again, "te quiero, novia." Penny laughed at his horrible accent and nuzzled her nose against his. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before he kissed her again, this time his lips never leaving hers as he laid down on the medical table. Penny followed his lead, straddling his lap and placing her hands on his pants, untucking his shirt from them and pulling it up and over his head. Kane smiled as he did the same for her, his hands finding her breasts and squeezed them gently, his fingers tickling the sides of her breasts as he leaned up and kissed her once more, his mouth following the lines of freckles over her cheeks before flowing down her neck.

"Te quiero."

He said it again and again, each time his lips connected with her skin, he said it again.

"I'll never leave you," silently he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out something; this time stopping the intimate contact to stare up at her, "if you'll have me, I'll never leave you again. I love you, will you have me?" Questioningly, Penny stared down at her sweetheart before looking towards his hand. A hand went over her mouth as she stared at the ring he always wore around his neck, a simple silver band that was his father's and his father's before him.

"A-are you asking me what I think you're asking me?"

Kane smiled sweetly, "will you marry me?"

"Come on Penny," Ripley stirred Penny out of her daydream, "they've made a decision and called us back for our judgement." Ripley wore a light smile, but it felt more like she was forcing it. Penny only nodded and fiddled with the big, silver ring on her finger.

"Right, let's go see what those pendejos think; although, I think I have an idea already." Penny smiled sadly and stood from the bench and followed Ripley.

"It is the finding of this board of inquiry that Warrent Officer Ellen Ripley, NOC-14672. has acted with questionable judgment and is unfit to hold an ICC license as a commercial flight officer," Van Leuwen began as he stared down both of them women standing in front of the board, "we also find that Chief Medical Officer Penelope Jarvis, NOC-15103. has acted with questionable medical judgement and is unfit to hold any medical license," Penny felt herself grow faint, "Chief Medical Officer Jarvis is also unfit to hold an ICC license as a commercial flight officer and said licenses are hereby suspended indefinitely. No criminal charges will be filed at this time and you two will be released on own recognizance for a six month period of psychometric probation, to include monthly review by an ICC psychiatric tech... This meeting is adjured." Every single one of the board members stood from their seats and started to file out the door with smug smirks planted on their faces. Ripley shakes her head as Burke places a restricting arm on her shoulder, but she shrugs it off and chases Van Leuwen who is walking down the hallway. Penny runs after her, of course - what was she going to say?

"Why won't you check out LV-426?" Ripley pulls up alongside Van Leuwen, who doesn't even glance at Ripley nor does he glance at Penny who has stopped on the other side of him. Van Leuwen sneered and condescendingly replied: "because I don't have to. The people who live there checked it out years ago and they never reported and 'hostile organism' or alien ship. And by the way, they call it Acheron now."

"What are you talking about?" Penny gasped, her heart jumping up into her throat.

"What people?" Ripley insisted, as Van Leuwen stepped into an elevator with some others, but Ripley holds the door from closing, "terraformers...planet engineers. It's what we call a shake 'n' bake colony. They set up atmosphere processors to make the air breathable...big job. Takes decades. They've already been there over twenty years. Peacefully." Van Leuwen doesn't even glance up as the door tries to close, but Ripley slams it back as Penny steps forward, ignoring the other passengers on the elevator, "How many colonists?"

"Sixty, maybe seventy families."

"Sweet Jesus." Ripley gasps, her hand still clutching the door as Penny stares at Van Leuwen, "dios mio."

"Do you mind?" One of the passengers finally says as the narrow their eyes at the two women holding up the elevator. Silently, Ripley's hand slides off the door as all the strength seemingly leaves her body. Her and Penny stand there for what feels like hours, both of their heads swimming with unanswered questions and the imagery of all those families dead.

I apologize if any Spanish seems off; I took Spanish for five years, but I'm not completely fluent in it.