May 15, 2181

Video Log: Cpl. Wolf, Ryan Security Clearance: Blue

Mission Time: 03:45:32 Local Time: 10:06:43

Bron and Dutch watched in fear as Slash stood up, Ellie down on the ground. Bron looked over at Dutch and signaled for him to circle around the alien. Bron looked down at the little girl underneath the alien. "Ellie, I need you to crawl over to me slowly, okay?" Bron crouched down to her level. Dutch moved to behind her and the alien. Said alien was having a bit of trouble deciding who to kill first.

Ellie shook her head. "But, my brother-"

"Is gone sweetie," Bron said as he aimed at Slash. The alien looked at Bron and hissed angrily, almost as if it was insulted by Bron's statement. Then came even more hissing from behind him. Bron turned around and saw a fairly large alien staring at him. The tail swayed evilly from left to right as both Bron and the xeno looked at each other.

"Dutch, grab her and go. I've got this one," Bron said coldly, looking at the alien's left arm, seeing the pockmarked scars given to it by Bron's own Desert Eagle. The middle aged Marine flexed his right hand, or least, what was left of it, as the ring finger on his right hand had been bitten off by the alien in front of him. "Good to see you again Big Al."

The alien hissed as it crouched, ready to pounce. Dutch crawled forward towards Ellie. With reflexes born from fighting on VF-132, Dutch snatched up the little girl and sprinted towards the door. Slash looked behind it and saw that Ellie wasn't there; howling in anger, it turned to look at the retreating form of Dutch, and it was then that Bron and Big Al went at each other.

Big Al lunged at Bron, tackling him to the ground. Grunting as they hit the hard concrete of the building, Bron jerked his head to the side as the xeno tried to bite his head off. Reaching down, Bron grabbed his Desert Eagle from its holster and kicked Al hard enough to avoid being killed by the alien's tail; however, he was speared in the side.

Meanwhile, Slash pounced towards Dutch. The Marine expected to die, with Ellie in his arms; what he didn't expect was for the alien to grab both of them and fly through the door with them, just as Bron roared in defiance.

The three of them crashed on the bottom of the stairway, Slash taking most of the fall and tumble. In seconds, the three untangled themselves, and Slash found an M41A/2 Pulse Rifle muzzle in his face. Dutch was about to fire when Ellie put herself in front of the gun. "Ellie, what are doing?! Get away from it!" Dutch yelled as he aimed up at the alien's head.

"Don't kill my brother!" Ellie yelled out as she threw herself at the Marine. Gunshots went off, and an alien screeched in anger and pain.

:\_/:

May 15, 2181

Video Log: 2LT. Monnot, [Classified], Security Clearance: Red

Mission Time: 03:43:32 Local Time: 10:04:43

Kestrel looked over at Tanner, his face saying almost everything he needed to. "Shit!" he burst out, fists clenched. "No birds, and we have Ravagers on the planet! What else could possibly go wrong?"

Tanner should have reprimanded the soldier, but he understood what the lieutenant was going through. He did after all lose half his forces in one attack.

"Umm, sirs?" Both the Major and the Lieutenant looked over at the comm tech. "The uhh, Nevada says that they can spare another trooper for support."

The Major looked at the civilian, dumbfounded. "Only one trooper?" he asked.

"Yessir, a SEAL."

Tanner looked over at Kestrel. If there was anybody even crazier than the U.S. Army Airborne, then it sure as hell was the Navy SEALs. Granted, the Airborne were fairly crazy to routinely do High Altitude, Low Opening jumps, but the SEALs put them to shame. What with their Drop Pods, advanced weaponry and gear, and near impossible to pass training.

Kestrel shrugged. "Alright, well, we need everyone we can get down here," he said, looking over at the control screen where his team's killcams were displayed. Much to his dismay, Vera's killcam showed Wolf's mutilated body, the burning wreckage of the Cherokee in the background.

Tanner nodded in agreement and told the tech that yes, they would like the SEAL, and that the SEAL should have gone done with them three frakkin' hours ago!

:\_/:

May 15, 2181

Video Log: CPL. Bronson, Samuel, Security Clearance: Blue

Mission Time: 03:46:47 Local Time: 10:07:10

Bron was pissed as Big Al tossed him across the roof. The Marine had pulled out his pistol and fired three shots, none of which hit, and Al freaked. The alien had flung him off his tail, and now, Bron was able to aim properly. He aimed, fired, and nailed the bastard that took his finger dead in the head, the .5 Action Express rounds taking off fist sized chucks of flesh with them. Bron kept on firing until he heard his gun click dry. Bron grimaced as Big Al looked at him, the alien almost smiling in triumph when they both heard a low howling, growing in intensity. They both looked up at the same time and saw a grey blur rush down at them. Bron and Big Al looked at each other one last time before the drop pod slammed on top of Big Al with pinpoint accuracy. The alien didn't have time to scream as the pod went through the roof and landed with a thud on the ground.

Dutch, Ellie, and Slash had heard the pod come down and went over to the hole on the third floor where the pod had cleared a path. Looking down, they all saw what seemed to be a giant metal egg, still smoking from the re-entry. Looking over at the alien next to him, Dutch raised his pulse rifle, making Ellie go nuts.

"Don't!" she cried out, just as the pod opened. Out walked a single soldier, armed with a suppressed pulse rifle, a SPAS-12 twelve gauge shotgun, and what seemed like a revolver. The soldier looked up and saw the three oddball individuals. Reacting quickly, the soldier drew out their pulse rifle and aimed at the xeno.

"Hold fire!"

The four of them looked up to see Bron looking over the edge of the hole in the roof. "The xeno's friendly," he said, clutching his side in pain.

"How the hell can you tell?" Dutch asked as he took Ellie as far away from the xeno as possible, the young girl struggling against him. Slash looked at him angrily.

"Because if he wasn't my brother I'd be dead!" Ellie cried out. Dutch looked at the alien and saw it nod in confirmation. Slash then decided to walk closer to Dutch and beckoned Ellie over. The girl wrenched herself away from Dutch's grasp and ran into Slash's arms. "Allen!" she said, hugging the alien. Dutch watched in surprise as the alien hugged Ellie back, not making a single move to harm her. There a loud ch-chack! of a shotgun coming from behind him. Dutch turned to see the soldier, or rather, SEAL judging by the shoulder patch, aim at the xeno, shotgun barrel next to Dutch's head.

"Identify yourself," came the emotionless voice from the SEAL. Dutch looked to where Bron was.

"Corporal Nathan van Hold, USCMC," he told the SEAL. "I have an injured Marine upstairs, think you can help me get him back to the colony command center?"

"I'll get him. I don't trust the xeno."

Dutch shrugged, exasperated. "I don't either, but the bug hasn't given me a reason to kill it yet."

"Allen's not an it!" Ellie yelled out to the two adults; this prompted a light smack, almost a tap, on the side of the girl's head from the xenomorph, the alien seemingly ticked at Ellie's lack of respect.

Dutch and the SEAL looked at the xeno oddly. Glancing at the SEAL, Dutch hefted his pulse rifle and flipped down the motion tracker in his helmet. Seeing that there wasn't anything sneaking up on them, Dutch gave the go ahead for the SEAL to grab Bron.

The SEAL rushed up the stairs, bursting out onto the roof. Looking down at Bron, and the hole in his side, the SEAL slide over to him and kneeled on the ground, whipping out a Med-pack. "Geez, you can't help but be a stubborn old coot, huh Dad?"

Bron looked up at the SEAL. "Wait, Charlotte?" he asked, wincing as his daughter injected several sticks of adrenaline into him.

"Yeah, that's me last time I checked," Charlotte said, hauling her father up onto her shoulders. Going down the stairs, the two got to where Dutch, Ellie, and the xeno were standing when the xeno hissed. Dutch tensed.

"What's wrong?" Bron asked.

"Contacts. A lot of them," Dutch answered.

"So…?" Charlotte asked, looking at the Corporal.

"SUSFU."

"Ah," Bron replied. "Reminds me of that mission I had on New Arcadia. That was when my finger got chewed off." Looking to Ellie and …Allen, Bron asked, "What about the alien?"

Dutch shrugged. "We call in and say we have a priority package in the shape of a bug. Tell them not to kill him, I guess."

Ellie looked up at the alien in worry. Allen purred softly and stroked her hair. Bron grimaced in pain.

"Fine, let's just get the hell out of here!" Bron shouted.

That was when they all heard the hoard of coming in.