I HOLD NO CLAIMS TO ANY MEMBER OF THIS STORY. Only Riley and Jack are mine!

Chapter Two

The Marines

Riley felt herself going through a repeat of 57 years ago. It was time for them all to awaken. As the Stasis beds opened, she had half a mind to believe that what she had experienced with the Xenomorph was just a dream and that it would be Dallas she was waking up to. Instead it was a Marine. Giving a sigh and setting her feet on the ground, Riley had been extremely happy with herself in the fact that she had chosen to wear a pair of shorts with her shirt into the Stasis.

They were boarded on the Sulaco, and she, Burke, her sister, and Jack were the only ones that weren't Marines. Unless you wanted to take into count Jack being ex-military nearly 67 years ago.

"They ain't payin' us enough for this, man." One of the Marines, Drake, was the first to speak.

"Not enough to have to wake up to your face, Drake." The woman to his right, Dietrich, replied.

"What? Is that a joke?"

"Oh, I wish it were."

"Hey, Hicks," The man that Riley was beside looked up, rubbing his head. "Man, you look just like I feel."

~Then you must feel pretty good~ Riley smirked to herself as she stood up. At the snicker to her right she glanced to see Jack and Ripley laughing at her. It was then that she realized that she had said it aloud. Whipping her head around to find the said Marine smiling, she took off running to find her locker.

"All right sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed?" Sergeant Apone called out, his hat and cigar already in place. "Another glorious day in the Corps. Look at her, not even in it and she's faster than your slow asses." He wore a large grin as he continued to move through the line. "A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet, ever paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade. I love the Corps!"

"And you miss that?" Ripley asked her husband as they got the feeling back into their bodies.

"Every once and a while." Jack answered truthfully, stretching his arms out.

"Man, this floor is freezing!" Hudson cried out, jumping from one foot to another.

"What do you want me to do? Fetch you some slippers?" Apone asked.

"Gee, would you sir? I'd like that."

"Look into my eye." Apone commented, flipping him off in secret before turning. "Fall in, people! Come on, let's go."

"I hate this job." Frost grunted.

Riley kept her eyes to herself as she pulled her clothes on while the others joined them. She was glad to find that her locker was in the middle of Ripley's and Jack's so she didn't have to worry about being next to the one called Hicks again.

"Crowe, Wierzbowski, on your feet," Apone began shouting out orders to the Corps.

Jack found himself watching all of them with a smile on his face as one of the women, Vasquez, began to do pull ups. Ripley noticed this and gave him an elbow to the side as Riley had moved to do the same to his others. He gave her a grin and she chuckled, pulling her sleeves on. Ripley had cut her hair short but Riley had left it long, pulling it back into a tail and out of her way.

"Hey, mira," Vasquez dropped from the bar, looking at the new trio. "Who's Snow White and her helpers?" Ripley was white as snow while Jack and Riley were tanned.

"They're supposed to be some group of consultants. Apparently they saw an alien once."

Laughter broke out. "Whoopee-fucking-do!" Hudson grinned, pulling his shirt on. "Hey, I'm impressed."

"Que' bonita," Vasquez grabbed the bars again, Drake joining her in her pull-ups.

"Hey, Vasquez," Hudson grinned. "Have you ever been mistaken for a man?"

"No," She gave a grunt before dropping to her feet to look at him. "Have you?"

"Ha ha! Oh, Vasquez." Drake dropped down beside her and exchanged a handgrip. "You're just too bad."

Riley gave a smile to herself, watching them. She felt…disappointed in herself. She used to be one of those badasses when she was a teen and look at her now. Scared to even go to sleep. What would Dallas think of her now?

The group then found themselves in the kitchen and Riley had another flashback to the Nostromo. She saw Hudson take the position of Kane and watched as the Alien came bursting out of his chest. Giving a shudder at that memory, she turned and sat at a table off on her own as Jack and Ripley joined Burke and Gorman at theirs. Silence was something that she wanted at the moment but as the crew started out their sexual talk she couldn't help but give a laugh. She was a woman, yeah, but she still found it hilarious. It got even better when Hudson called out for Bishop.

Taking a good look at him, there was no way that Bishop was a Marine. He was too…proper and was passing out his food to them. It didn't take long for Riley to know why.

Bishop was an android.

"Hey, Bishop, do the thing with the knife." Hudson called.

"Oh, please," Bishop sighed.

"Come on." Hudson grinned when he gave in and grabbed the knife. "All right!"

~Seems they've traveled with him before,~ She commented to herself.

"I don't wanna see that," Apone couldn't help but laugh.

Riley watched as they moved trays out of the way and Bishop set his hand down, fingers spread with the knife in the other. Having a good idea what he was about to do, Riley couldn't help but laugh as Drake grabbed Hudson's hand and made him place it beneath Bishop's to endure the horror. She couldn't help but stand up to try and get a better look.

"Bishop! Hey, man!"

"Do it." Drake told the Android.

"Hey, not me, man!"

"Yeah, you," Drake grinned, "Don't move."

Bishop paused and glanced at the man. "Trust me."

Riley watched, her eyes getting wider and wider as the knife crashed down to the table between each finger. Hudson's eyes went wider as well and his cry got louder before slowing down and disappeared as Bishop came to a stop and handed him his knife back.

"Thank you."

"Enjoy your meal," Drake clapped his arm as he set his tray back down for him.

"That wasn't funny, man!" Hudson cried, that look of shock still on his face.

"I beg to differ," Riley commented from her seat, giving a smile as their heads turned to look at her. "That was extremely entertaining."

"Yeah, come say that to my face." Hudson growled. The Marines gave a grin, thinking the new lady was gonna back down.

Riley stood up from her seat and moved over to stand beside Hudson. Leaning down, she whispered in his ear- "Extremely entertaining."

Hudson's face turned to one of a grin as the rest of his Corps laughed at him. "All right, all right, you're the dangerous one of the three, I get it."

"Dangerous?" Riley pulled back and laughed. Didn't she just have a conversation like this with herself? "I doubt that entirely." ~Why not go ahead and introduce yourself?~ "Anora Ripley," She held her hand out to him. "But you can call me Riley. My sister goes by Ripley."

"Twins, huh?" Hudson asked, taking her hand.

"Yep."

"So is the man yours or hers?" Frost asked, looking up at her.

"Jack belongs to her."

Frost gave her a smile. "Good."

Before there could be a reply, there was a crash and everything stopped to see Ripley glaring at the android.

"Just stay away from me, Bishop. You got that straight?"

Riley shook her head as her sister stormed out of the kitchen. Jack gave Bishop an apologetic look before taking off after her.

"Guess she don't like the cornbread, either." Frost commented.

Giving another sigh, Riley grabbed the clean napkin off of the table and moved over to Bishop as he had moved to clean up what her sister had tossed to the floor. "I'm sorry for my sister," She began. Riley understood how Ripley felt after all that had happened with Ash but taking it out on another one wasn't right. It wasn't his fault. "She's still taking it pretty hard."

"And you're not?"

Riley gave a shrug. "It's…hard to explain. I don't blame Ash for following orders and therefore I don't think that you're to blame for it, either. It's a difficult situation, you know?"

Bishop gave her a nod, watching as she wrapped the napkin around the finger that he had cut open with that knife display of his. "At least one of you doesn't hate me."

"Oh, Ripley'll grow on you," She picked up the tray and tossed it in the can. "So will Jack. He'll calm her down. She might be a sore thumb at first but eventually she'll cool down."

Things were silent for a moment before he stood up as well. "Will you tell me what happened? If you're her sister and he's her husband then you were there on the ship too, right?"

"Yeah, but…it's not a very pleasant thing to think about, especially after first waking up again, you know?" she gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Maybe later."

After Breakfast, the group all gathered in the loading dock to hear their report.

"Squad, ten-hut!" Apone announced his arrival with Gorman. "Officer on deck!" Jack almost stood at attention himself if Ripley hadn't of elbowed him in the side. He gave her another grin.

"As you were," Gorman told them.

"Quickly, quickly," Riley sighed, watched as the Marines sat/stood before them. Why Gorman wanted all three of them standing there with him she didn't know or care.

"Good morning, Marines," Gorman began, taking his hat off and turning to face them. "I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief you before we left gateway-"

"Sir!" Hudson's hand shot straight up.

"What is it, Hicks?"

"Hudson, sir," The man hanging on the chain grinned. He then nodded a head at the man smoking beside him. "He's Hicks." Riley did all she could to not snicker.

"What's the question?" Gorman asked.

"Is this gonna be a stand-up fight or another bug-hunt?" Riley and Ripley shared a glance.

"All we know is there's still no contact with the colony and that a Xenomorph may be involved."

"You assholes took my name," Jack grunted, crossing his arms with an annoyed look. "I demand payment for every time it's used." Riley gave a snort but her sister didn't look amused.

"Excuse me, sir," Apone dove in. "A what?"

"A Xenomorph."

"It's a bug-hunt." Hicks sighed, looking at Hudson.

"Yeah, that's what we would like it to be, huh?" Riley commented, rolling her neck before staring off at the ceiling.

"Amen," She heard Ripley agree.

Hicks turned to look at the three of them. "What exactly are we dealing with here?" ~Cute and smart,~ Riley grinned to herself. ~Getting straight to the point.~

Jack waved a hand and Ripley took the stage, taking a step forward.

"I'll tell you what I know," She began, hands shoved in her pockets. "We set down on LV-426. One of our crew members was brought back onboard with something attached to his face, some kind of parasite." Riley could tell that her sister was embarrassed talking about this by herself so she stepped in.

"We tried to get it off but it refused to move and tightened its grip on his throat. Not long after that it just sorta fell off on its own." There was no way in hell that she was going to tell them that she had gone in there to pet it and heard it purring.

"Kane seemed fine," Jack took a step in as well. "We were all having dinner and…and I guess it laid some sort of embryo in his throat that fell into his chest because as we sat there, the creature just…burst out of him." All three of them could see the event replaying in their minds as he talked about it.

"Look, man," Vasquez began. "I only need to know one thing-where they are." She pointed her finger like a gun before turning and slapping hands with Drake; again.

"Vasquez, kick ass."

"Anytime, anywhere."

"Right, right," Hudson had to send in his two-bit. "Someone said 'alien' and she thought they said 'illegal alien' and signed up." Jack was the one to give a snort this time as Vasquez flipped the bird at the man behind her.

"Fuck you, man."

"Anytime, anywhere." He mocked her.

Ripley though, seemed to have had enough of their shit though. "Are you finished?" She took a few steps closer to them. "I hope you're right. I really do."

"Yeah, ok. Right. Thank you, Ripley," Gorman went to move forward but Jack held and arm out, holding his back.

"Because just one of those things managed to wipeout almost my entire crew in less than twenty-four hours. And if the colonists have found that ship there's no telling how many have been exposed. Do you understand?"

"Let them get hit with the shit if they don't believe it," Riley told her sister, hooking an arm through hers. "I betcha when the acid hits them they will."

"Oh, that's a horrible thing to make fun off," Jack commented but he wore a large smile on his face.

Clearly, very clearly, Riley and Jack were looking at this trip differently than Ripley was.

"Anyway," Gorman took a step forward. "We have their reports on disk, so look at it. Any questions?" Hudson raised his hand again with that grin of his. Gorman answered through gritted teeth. "What is it, Private?"

"How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?"

"You secure that shit, Hudson." Apone growled instantly.

Gorman took a breath. "All right. Now listen up. I want this thing to go smooth and by the numbers. I want DCS and tactical database assimilation by 0830." Everyone groaned at that. "Ordnance loading, weapons strip and drop-ship prep details will have seven hours. Now move it, people!" Gorman growled before stalking off.

"All right sweethearts, you heard the man, and you know the drill. Assholes and elbows!" Apone moved forward to his crew. "Hudson, come here. Come here!"

"Uh-oh," Riley snickered as the trio moved off. "I take it that Hudson gets in trouble a lot."

"After the hour I've been around him, he's a dumbass." Jack replied.

"Was that how you were?" Ripley asked him.

"At first maybe, but not anymore."

"No, now you're just an ass."

"Hey!"

Everyone had set to work and Riley felt as useless as her sister and Jack did. Jack and Ripley went off to find Apone but Riley set her eyes on Bishop. He looked like he had his hands full with all the cases of…whatever it was he was trying to carry up the back of the ship and into the tank-like car they would be riding in.

"Need a hand?"

Bishop came to a pause and glanced at her. "Uh, sure." Taking some of the load off, she gave a soft smile at the sight of the napkin still tied on his finger. Not all androids were inhumane. As the two of them talked, Riley felt like she was back at work before all this alien stuff happened. Sure, she wouldn't normally be packing up extra ammo rounds and what not but being on the ship again, out here in space, it was…home to her. More home than Earth was, anyway.

"Now, we're about to get ready," Bishop told her as the dumped the empty bags in a barrel. "Go grab anything if you're taking it."
As he walked back into the tank, Riley placed a hand on her hip. "What the hell would I bring with me?" She then caught herself. "I guess a gun wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe I can snitch one off one of the Marines."

"Not if snitch means stealing."

The voice made her turn to find her good friend from this morning standing there with a grin.

"Oh…Uh…Hicks, right?" She asked, feeling the red rise in her cheeks.

"Dwayne," He nodded, holding his hand out.

"Anora," She replied, taking it. His hand was firm and warm. "Look, about this morning," She felt the blush completely take over. "I apologize."

He gave a wink as he walked past her. "What for?"

She turned and watched him join the rest of the Marines to ready their equipment. Twenty minutes later she still couldn't mellow herself out. She hadn't felt butterflies in her stomach like this for years; nearly 57.

(Oh, right in the chest, poor Dallas, lol)

"Stop being stupid," She told herself as she heard the aircraft behind her warm up. Stepping out of the way, she saw Bishop drive the tank out and opened the doors. They could all hear the Marines yelling at eachother before bursting out in their equipment with Apone trailing behind them as they came to a stop.

"Absolutely badasses! Let's pack 'em in! Get in there!" He ripped the door open and they filed in, each one to their seats. Ripley and Jack sat in a seat together towards the front, leaving Riley to sit across from them with Burke. She couldn't help but keep watching the Marines, a large smile on her face. It was completely amusing, especially when Hudson started his ranting.

"Ready to get it on? You know it!" He was locking everyone in their seats. "I'm ready, man. Ready to get it on! Go!" He smacked Drake's hand as Ferro announced their launching.

"This is nothing like our other job," Ripley sighed, resting her head on Jack's arm.

"No, no it isn't." He replied with a smile.

Riley could see it in his eyes as he looked at the Marine Corps. He had wanted that so bad but gave it up from Ripley and their family; just to have it ripped away from them like it had been after 57 years of sleep.

As they went on further with the drop, Riley entertained herself with several things. The talk. The sick noises Burke was making beside her, and the sleep that Hicks had fallen into.

"I got a bad feeling about this drop." Frost was saying.

"You always say that." Crowe sighed.

"When we get back without ya, I'll call your folks."

Riley watched then as Drake smashed his head against the side of his seat to fix his camera. "Tough bunch of fuckers here, aren't ya?"

"You know it, babe." Hudson grinned at her.

~Babe?~ Riley was surprised to hear that.

"Check it out. I am the ultimate badass," Hudson was continuing. "State of the badass art." The other where egging him on. "You do not wanna fuck with me. Check it out," He moved in closer to give Riley a better look. "Don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you." They gave waves and cheers as the trio laughed. "Check it out." He moved and began to point things out. "Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. Whap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse-rifles, RPGs. We got sonic electronic ballbreakers!" The ship gave a huge shake there. "We got nukes. We got knives, sharp sticks,"

"Well you're gonna lose something of it if you don't get your ass outta my face," Jack growled, shoving the man out of the way.

"Knock it off, Hudson!" Apone growled. "All right, gear up. Two minutes, people. Get hot." He then sighed. "Somebody wake up Hicks."

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