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

Chapter Five

What Next?

"That's everything, right?" Riley stood there, watching as the Marines gathered what supplies that they had left. They had returned to Bishop and the base with barely anytime to nightfall. "All right. This is absolutely everything that we could salvage out of the APC wreckage." Hicks began with a sigh. Jack grabbed a gun and looked at it. "We got four pulse-rifles with about fifty rounds each."

"That don't sound good," Riley commented.

The Marine looked at her. "It's not. We got fifteen of these M-40 grenades," Ripley reached forward and kept Newt from grabbing one of them.

"Is this the only flamethrower?" Jack asked, looking at the gun in his hands.

"Yeah," Hicks nodded. "It's only half-full, but it's functional. There's another one damaged so I don't know about that one."

Jack gave a grin. "I might be able to fix that." Ripley looked at her husband. She had a repeat of their first event with the Xenomorphs on the Nostromo all those years ago. Jack and Parker had been the ones to create the flamethrowers that they had used all those years ago; maybe he would be able to pull the second one back together.

"Is there any good news in all of this?" Riley sighed, crossing her arms.

"Yep," Hicks turned and placed a hand on a set of cases behind him on the table. "We got four of these Robot sentries with display and scanners intact. They really kick ass. I think they'll come in handy."

"The question should be how much ammo they have." Riley commented.

"About 500 apiece," Hicks answered her.

~That makes the total to be 2000,~ She commented to herself. ~But with these Aliens I doubt that'll last very long.~

Ripley looked at the Marine. "How long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?"

Hicks and Vasquez shared a silent look before he answered. "Seventeen days."

"Seventeen days?" Apparently Hudson didn't like that answer. "Hey, man, I don't wanna rain on your parade but we're not gonna last seventeen hours. Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before, and they're gonna come in here and they're gonna-"

"Hudson! Hudson!" Ripley cut the marine's voice off. "This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training." She glanced at Newt. The girl had placed Hick's helmet on her head and turned to give Hudson a silent salute.

"Why don't you put her in charge?" The man growled.

"You better just start dealing with it, dude," Jack slipped an arm around the other man's shoulders. "Because we need you in control, not losing it, all right? You're a marine. You bastards can last longer than just seventeen days, can't you?" Hudson gave a sigh before turning his head. "Good, now come with me. We're gonna go get a drink and try and fix this thing," He held up the broken flamethrower before leading the other man out into the hall.

"Vasquez," Riley turned to look at the other woman. "Can I get you to get on the terminal and pull up a floor plan? Blueprints? Anything that holds all the passages from air ducts to access tunnels to anything."

Vasquez gave a nod and Hicks glanced at the sister. "You have an idea?"

"A little," Riley nodded, watched as Ripley spoke to Newt. "But I'm going to have to see the plans before I can piece it all together." She closed her eyes for a moment before locking them with him. "I don't plan on dying here. Not after all the shit I've already been through."

"I'll be in med lab." Bishop commented, glancing at the sisters. "I'll check on Gorman, continue my analysis." Riley gave a nod but Ripley glared at him.

"Fine. You do that."

Riley gave a sigh and glanced at her sister. "It's not Ash, Ripley. Bishop doesn't work for the company. He's with the military."

"You trust him, Riley?" Her sister looked at her like she was crazy. "You know damn well that he could-"

"You can't blame him for what those bastards did to us. I'm more worried about this bastard," She shoved a thumb over her shoulder at Burke. "Bishop hasn't done anything yet to piss you off so if you can't control yourself around him, let me deal with him and you just take care of the girl, all right?" Not waiting for an answer, Riley turned from her sister and took a few steps away. Taking a deep sigh, she rubbed her temples.

"Try and calm down," Hicks' voice made her glance to the side at the man that moved up beside her. "I know things are stressful but, like you told your sister, if you can't control yourself, just let me deal with it." He grinned as she gave a snort. "Or you could talk to me. I do know how to listen, you know."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Riley turned and leaned her back against the wall, crossing her arms. "But I'm afraid that this isn't the time for you to be so. We're in a lot of shit, here."

"I agree on that," He reached forward and grabbed the handgun off of her belt. "But I still don't like the thought of you having this."

"Honey," Riley gave a small laugh. "In a time like this, I'm willing to give anyone a gun; as long as they know how to use it."

Hicks gave her a grin. "And do you know how to use one?"

"Not the best possible way, no, but if those things are three feet in front of me, I can assure you that I won't miss."

"I am sure that you wouldn't," Hicks grinned at her, placing the handgun on a table. "But later, I'll give you proper instructions on how to handle this guy," He placed a hand on one of the pulse-rifles. "Just in case."

Riley glanced off as Vasquez and the others all returned and gathered around to look at the floor plans. "I'll hold you to that." She told him as she moved by.

He gave a small grin, looking after her. "You won't have too."

…

"So this service tunnel must be how they're moving back and forth," Ripley commented, running her finger along the map.

"That's right," Hudson nodded as Jack picked up Newt and gave her a better view of what they were looking at. "It moves from the processing station right into the sub-level here." He gave orders for Ripley, who was holding the controller, to move the map.

"Check out the pressure door," Jack pointed at the screen. "Can we do something with this?"

"Like what?" Riley asked him.

Ripley seemed to understand what her husband was saying. "We could put one of those remote sentry units in the tunnel and seal the door."

"That would work," Hicks nodded. "But we gotta figure on them getting into the complex."

"Right," Ripley nodded, her mind gears working. "So we repair the barricades at these two intersections."

"Right," Jack nodded. "Then we can wield some steel over these three ducts," He pointed them out on the map.

Riley caught on to it as well. "That's a good idea. That way the only way they can get at is us from these two corridors. There we can set up the guns."

Hicks stared at the three of them with a small grin on his face. "Outstanding. Now all we need is a deck of cards."

"No worries, got that taken care of," Jack grinned, pulling a pack of cards out.

"Really?" Riley raised her brow. "Why do you have a pack of cards in your pocket?"

"I could answer that, but I don't think that it would be suitable for the ears of a child and then your sister might not like me revealing-" Ripley elbowed her husband in the stomach to shut him up as the others all laughed.

"Oh, I did not need that image in my head," Riley sighed, turning from the maps. ~And the fact that my sister and I have the same body form just makes it all so much worse!~ she gave a shudder at that.

"All right, people," Hicks straightened up. "Let's move like we've got a purpose.

"Affirmative." Hudson nodded.

"Hudson, Vasquez, the three of us are going to go take care of those doors and set up the sentries."

"No problem," Hudson nodded and Vasquez said something in Spanish before turning away.

Riley turned to Hicks. "What can I do?"

"Come with me." He told her.

As Newt and Burke helped Ripley pull in food and water from what was left of the area, Riley helped Hicks weld another passage shut with objects of steel. Rolling her neck as they came to a final finish, she sat down on a nearby chair and gave a sigh.

"You all right?" Hicks asked, kneeling before her.

"Your concern is touching, but it's not necessary," She told him. "Now, when we get back home then I'll take it all if you still want to give it."

Hicks gave a laugh and dropped his head for a moment before reaching into his pocket. "Here, I want you to put this on."

Riley looked at the watch he held out to her. "You know, I thought it was supposed to be a ring."

Hicks gave a laugh. "Oh. You'll only get that if you're good enough to last through this with me."

Riley gave a laugh herself, pleased that, despite what was happening, she had someone that could keep up with her and make her worry disappear with laughter. "What is it?" she asked, taking it and getting a better look.

"It's a locator," He answered her. "I'll be able to find you anywhere in the complex on this," Hicks pulled out a range meter. "It's just a precaution."

"A precaution that I appreciate but don't need." She told him with a small smile. "I would rather this been given to the child, if you understand."

"Of course I understand," Hicks nodded. He took the locator back and stood before grinning back at her again. "That just means that I won't let you out of my sight for a second."

Riley gave a snicker. "You say that but the true question is will you be able to?"

…

"Eleanor," Ripley turned at her name to see Jack moving up behind her, returning from his little mission with Vasquez and Hudson. "How you doing?"

"As fine as I can be," She answered him, turning back to Newt. Hicks was currently placing a locator on her arm, explaining what it was meant for. "We gotta stay strong and try and beat these bastards."

"Not try," Jack told his wife. "We're gonna win again, Ripley. I promise you that. I am going to get you and your sister out of this alive again," He watched as his wife's eyes slithered to Newt. "The kid, too. We'll get her out of this too."

"She won't have anywhere to go. Her whole family died here. What will happen to her?" Ripley asked.

"Need you really ask that question when you already know damn well what you're gonna make me do?" Jack grunted, crossing his arms. He closed his eyes for a moment. "She's…almost the same age Amanda was…" he opened his eyes and gave her a sharp glare. "She won't replace her, Eleanor."

"I know that, Jack. I'm not trying to replace her!" Ripley replied. "But I'm not going to throw her away once we got back to Earth, either."

Jack sighed and dropped his arms. "You need some rest. Grab the kid and head up to the Med Lab. I'll bring you some food in a little while. I'm going to go check with the others and the situation."

"Be careful," Ripley told him.

He gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. "No need to worry babe. I'm Jack fuckin' Rush. These bastards ain't gonna be able to kill me."

Please Review!