Weyland-Yutani Headquarters, San Francisco, Terra
Underground Research Lab #4
The mole from Tau Ceti watched as the technicians finished hooking up the relic to the local power grid. It was small, but appearances were certainly deceiving in this case. It was fully capable of creating bioweapons of rather terrible power. Which was just what they would need to fight the Yautja. The mole looked over at the lead scientist and nodded. The egghead in question nodded back and flipped a switch. With a loud hum, the relic activated.
From a camera stationed on the window, Karl Bishop Weyland watched as the relic started glowing. A door opened, and in came a 'volunteer,' a convicted killer who was supposedly executed two days ago. He took one look at the relic, and then fell to the ground in pain. With his cries of pain ignored, Weyland watched as the man changed, turning into a xenomorph. But wait, something was wrong, very, very wrong. He was getting bigger, bigger than even a queen, close to the size of a Ravager! With a bone chilling shriek, it smashed several consoles and bits of machinery. And one of those consoles was for the shielding in the lab!
Karl Bishop Weyland could only watch in horror as all hell broke loose in his basement. Literally.
His finger jabbed a number on his phone. After it connected, Weyland all but shouted to the Commandant of the Colonial Marines, "Send in your troops, we have a problem here!"
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"So you're a clone?" Nathan asked. Alexander nodded.
"Yep!" he answered cheerfully. "Granted, I'm well aware of the laws about cloning, and all the religious and ethical qualms about it, but I don't really care." Alexander looked at Kestrel. "Garret is bit of an oddball. Combat synthetics have been banned since BG-392, and then beforehand in 2084, after the First A.I. War."
"So, why are you here?" Standard asked, the red headed android curious as to the unique position of the other android and the clone.
Alex looked at Standard. "You mean here at this facility?" Standard nodded. Alex nodded. "I suppose genetic memory. I don't really know. I just liked doing the same things that the original did, even though I had no idea at the time."
Suddenly, one of the monitors on the wall switched to a news station, while at the same time, the General's pager went off. The group turned to the monitor, where a shocked news anchor sat there.
"This Charles Langdon of Fox-12 in the Bay Area, and we have shocking news. Xenomorphs have been sighted in the Weyland-Yutani main office, and they are rampaging all over the place! If our estimates are correct, then they will be here on the mainland in less than half an hour! Please, if anyone is still watching this, please, send in the military! Please, help us! Wait, what is-OH GOD, THEY'RE HERE! RUN! EVERYONE GET OUT! NONONON-AUUUGGHH!"
Everyone flinched as the news reporter was attacked on live T.V. by a xeno, the camera soon being knocked over, sparing viewers the sight of a man being devoured. However, it did nothing to muffle the sounds. Nathan, Kestrel, and Alex all turned to look at the General, who now hung up the phone. "The President has declared a state of emergency in the Bay Area. Any and all available combat units are to immediately drop in to wipe out this infestation," the General said simply.
Alex nodded. "Understood sir. Anything else we need to know?" he asked, assuming the role of Kestrel in a heartbeat.
The General nodded. "Yes, the Interstellar Trade Commission, the U.S.C.M.C., and the U.N. are saying that extreme prejudice is to be shown to the assets of Weyland-Yutani's Bioweapons Division." Alex nodded as he looked over at Nathan.
"Dutch, you're coming with me," he said simply. Nathan nodded and went after the oddball clone. Taking a phone out, Alex dialed a number as sirens went off in the base, alerting all available military personnel to report to their battle stations. Getting a connection, Alex ordered that the soldiers from the Nevada to report to Armory Zero, and that they should have been there last week. Nathan looked at Alex in confusion. What the hell could possibly be in this 'Armory Zero?' And as they were walking, Alex was looking at his phone intently, reading the files that were being sent to him by the General.
The duo soon came across a thick metal door. In seconds, Alex had entered in a keycode, had his retina scanned, and submitted a genetic sample. The locks thunked open, and that was when the survivors from Tau Ceti got there. They all went in, and stood there slack jawed. This was most certainly an armory, as racks upon racks of weapons were posted along the walls, along with sets of armor.
Nathan looked at the armor in wonder. There in the back, in pristine condition, were twenty sets of Mk. III Semi-Powered Reflex Enhanced Armor. If Nathan remembered his military history correctly, then there were only fifty of those suits of armor left in existence, and there in front of him were at least twenty of those legendary suits.
"The rest of them are in storage dirtside," Alex said, noting Nathan's look of wonder. "However, you won't be wearing them. You, my dear little grunt, will be testing those." Nathan turned and saw suits of armor that looked similar to the Mk. III, but were much more…streamlined. "Thor, go to locker three, access code five-seven-alpha-niner, and get that suit over to the fitting ring over there," Alex ordered his gunner, pointing to an odd ring filled with robotic arms. "SEAL Girl, get in that recon armor over there, and please for the love of God keep the camera on and running. I've read your record, and it needs to change." Charlotte burned red at the light reprimand from the lieutenant.
The fire team of soldiers, lone Marine, and solitary SEAL quickly got into their respective armors, and Alex gave them a quick rundown of what their armors did. Thor's was a Mk. III Gunnery/Assault Powered Assault Armor, and as such, was very tough to crack. However, even with the massively powerful GAU-14 20mm Assault Cannon attached to the suit, and the acid-resistant treated blade on his left arm, Thor was not to get close to any xeno. Charlotte was in the relatively new Mk. II Stealth Armor, as was fitting for her SpecOps training. She was lightly armored, but she could sneak in where the rest of them couldn't. Everyone else, minus Alex, was wearing what Driftech called the pinnacle achievement for their Reflex Suits: the Mk. V.
Everyone who wasn't Thor grabbed an M38 pulse rifle, and from there, their weapons differed. Dutch went with that M30 rifle he had found on Tau Ceti, Iceman, Rushmore, and Charlotte went with a flamethrower, an M24 5.6mm SMG, and a SPAS-12 shotgun, respectively. Bandito grabbed a grenade launcher, and Alex himself took the M7 UPR. Each one made sure that they carried enough ammo for an assault.
"Alright everyone, to the drop bay! Follow me!" Alex ordered, hustling out of the armory. The others followed, and soon came into the drop bay. Only, instead of a dropship, they saw several dozen drop pods, each capable of carrying at least a squad in them. "Pack 'em in, pack em' in!" Alex yelled, ushering them in. They all got in and strapped themselves down. Alex cracked his neck. "Midway Station, this is Coyote, requesting permission for drop," he asked.
"Coyote, you are cleared for drop. Godspeed."
Coyote hit a button next to him, and with a gut-wrenching jerk, the drop pod unlatched itself from its moorings and plummeted to down to Earth. As they all fell, Coyote looked over his troops. "Listen up!" he shouted over the sounds of a shaking titanium egg travelling at speeds in excess of Mach twenty. "We'll be falling in with the rest of the 82nd Airborne down in Ashbury Heights! We hit the dirt, we get out, and we start pushing those alien fuckers back! We have been asked by General Redmond himself to get into the Weyland-Yutani HQ, extract Weyland if he's still alive, and bring that building down! Any questions?"
Dutch nodded. "Yes sir, I got one. Are we going to have some inflight entertainment on this drop, or we going to fall asleep from how boring this will be?"
Coyote laughed. "Why yes Dutch, we will have entertainment! It's called, 'Pray that we don't go splat in this damn pod!'"
Iceman expressed it in an even better way. "WOOOOO! WE ARE ON THE EXPRESS ELEVATOR TO HELL! GOING DOWN!"
And Iceman was right. They were indeed going to Hell.