After the two extra-terrestrials had left the ship, Weyland had waited till it had touched down fully, and stepped of the ramp
The two soldiers, one was called Rawlins and the other one Cobe, hurried after him. They were armed with their pulse rifles. He didn't want to take them into the town and said so, but Rawlins was adamant that they should join him. The sergeant, his name was Smyth, had ordered them not to take no for an answer.
Weyland shrugged his shoulders. It wouldn't make the locals more trustworthy, but perhaps it was for the best.
Their approach had been observed, and he was greeted by a sour-faced man as he sauntered into the town.
"Greetings, Stranger."
Weyland raised his hand in a gesture of greeting "Greetings!"
Thunder cracked in the sky. It would rain soon. The man had his thumbs looped in his belt, and a pistol stuffed in the pocket of his miner's overalls. "What's your business in this town?" he asked, eying the two soldiers.
Weyland smiled, trying to take the tension out of the situation "A drink, a talk, an opportunity to get out of this oppressive heat… I see you have a saloon"
"We don't usually welcome strangers here."
"Oh, and I'd like to talk to Mr. Carter. I heard he has some position of influence here."
"Who are you?"
"An old friend of Carter's. We worked together back in the day. My name is Richards"
The man's face softened. "If you are an old friend of Carter's, then you are in for a shock. He was killed a week ago."
Weyland feigned surprise and horror "How can this be? What happened?"
"Accompany me to the saloon, and we can have a talk about it with Carter's friend and successor."
The four walked along the main street, stopping at the door of the saloon. Weyland had surremptiously checked the buildings. This was classic Weyland-Yutani design, the layout like in the guidebook "How to set up a colonial settlement". It made it predictable, but also dangerous. There were almost no blind spots or hard covers here. The only building that wasn't to specifications was the saloon. It had been converted, to something less clinical and more comfortable.
"Mr. Richards, you have to leave your goons outside."
"Very well." He shot the two soldiers a look. They weren't stupid, and just now he was glad they were here.
The miner passed through the hinged door inside, and he followed him.
The first thing he noticed about the saloon was the fact that the bar was obliterated. There had been a gunfight here recently.
A few men were sitting around the tables, drinking beer or something else from their glasses. As they entered the muffled conversations stopped and they looked at him suspiciously, but after a short while continued to converse in low tones with each other.
Weyland noticed that each and every one of those men were armed, a strange thing in a miner's town. He had to be careful.
The man led him to a table to the side of the room, and they sat down.
"The Governor will arrive in a few moments. You'd best wait here."
He left, and Weyland was alone at the table again. He thought about ordering a drink, but refrained. He'd rather stay clear-headed. He needed information.
After a short while, a rather diminutive man arrived. He had broad shoulders, and his arms were packed with muscle. His face had a crooked nose, and his eyes were deep-set.
"Hello Mr. Richards. I'm the Governor."
Weyland noticed he had refrained from using his surname.
"Good day governor" Weyland said, sporting his most winning smile.
"I heard you are a friend of Mr. Carters. I'm sorry for your loss." The man smiled, revealing golden teeth.
Recognition sparked somewhere in Weyland's brain. Golden teeth. Nobody had golden teeth these days. He couldn't quite dredge the information from his head.
"He had it coming" Weyland smiled "Jeff was always… unconventional. Eventually he'd get someone mad."
"It's been a pretty crazy story, to be honest"
"Tell me about it."
The Governor lit his cigar. "Would you believe me if I told you that we had a fight with a Yautja and a tame Alien?"
"I'd tell you to get a pair of glasses" Weyland laughed, and the Governor joined in.
"Seriously though, that's exactly what happened. They snuck into his house, and killed him."
"That's totally crazy" Weyland nodded. "On the other hand, I need to ask you a question. I'm not here just to check on Jeff Carter."
The room fell silent. "Go on." The governor said
"I'm here for information. Information on a woman named Jeanne D'arc."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Jeanne D'arc. She's been here."
"I know no-one of that name."
The governor was lying, lying badly, and Weyland noticed it.
"Mr Richards, I think you should leave."
"She's been here. I traced her into this village, but her trail goes cold from here on."
"I think it is in your best interest to go now."
This was going to get ugly, but, then again, hadn't he somehow planned it this way?
"I want this information"
Two men got up from one of the tables, moving towards them. The governor looked at them. "Gentlemen, please escort Mr Richards back to his ship."
"If they touch me, I shall kill them." Weyland whispered, eliciting a hearty laugh from the governor, and a chorus from the room.
"I wanna see that." The governor chuckled.
"Suit yourself" Weyland said.
He drew two snub-nosed revolvers from his coat pockets, and shot the two men through the head.
There was momentarily silence, and Weyland kicked the table upwards, hitting the governor in the face, and got up, knocking the stool over, and moving sideways towards the bar, his revolvers blazing.
Launching himself behind the bar, he dropped his revolvers and drew two service-issue handguns from their holsters, and jumped up, shooting the last three men that had survived the first hail of bullets.
The governor staggered to his feet, his nose bleeding, and Weyland rushed across the room, kicking him back to the ground, and putting a foot on his chest, and drawing his impressively large revolver from its holster at the belt.
"You never told me your first name, and I doubt it does matter now."
The two soldiers stormed inside the room, their rifles at the ready, and Weyland called out to them "It's safe, they are all dead. Check the outside perimeter, especially the windows"
The soldiers complied, and Weyland returned his attention to the man lying in front of him.
"Who are you?" the Governor spat
"I'm Frederic Bishop Weyland." He said simply, and depressed the trigger, turning the man's head to pulp.
The recoil made his arms wince. He wasn't as young as he though himself to be.
"Was this necessary, sir?"
Weyland nodded "Yeah, I believe so. We need to get back to the ship. If you see anyone brandishing a gun on the way, shoot them."
They moved out, keeping to the side of the street. The ship was sitting on the prairie floor, not five hundred metres ahead of them.
"Watch out! Tango third window from the left, second house!"
A pulse rifle rapported twice "Tango down" Cobe said, in a calm voice. Rawlins was just beside him, shielding Weyland with his body, and they broke into a run. A shot cracked, and he heard the whizz of a bullet over his head. "There's three tangos emerging from the third house" Cobe said
"Don't talk, shoot!" Weyland breathed.
Both pulse rifles rapped out shots in rapid succession. "Keep running, Sir!" Rawlins exclaimed, and Weyland broke into a run. Behind him, the pulse rifles spoke, being answered by two loud claps.
The clouds had now completely obscured the sun, and Weyland smelt rain on the air. The ship was close, and he raced up the ramp into the interior, immediately heading for the bridge, and sitting down on the co-pilot's chair. The Sergeant had been reading, but dropped his book as he saw Weyland enter. "Sergeant, get this thing in the air!"
The man began rapidly flicking switches, and the large engines roared into life. Weyland felt the force press him down into his seat.
He quickly manipulated the control panel in front of him to access the weapon systems this ship had. There weren't much, but a large-calibre machine gun had been built in into the nose. He activated it, as the ship moved into the air.
"Sir, we can't leave the two out there!" Through the thick windows of the bridge Weyland could see the two soldiers fighting against at least a dozen townspeople, having taken cover behind a house
"Keep the ramp out, and point us at the direction of the houses"
He activated the gun's aiming system, and spun the weapon up, and then pressed the trigger.
A thundercrack resounded, and the skies opened. Rain fell.
With a sound like a giant buzzsaw, the gun went off.
Eran and Aki had stopped with Jeanne under a larger outcrop, shielding them from the rain, and some of the Wind. She was shivering, and Eran was uncomfortable.
The road would be long. "You really think this is worth it?" Eran clicked
"Maybe." Aki lapsed into silence again. The xeno knew he was brooding on something.
"The blood moon cannot escape from the ship, Aki."
"Yeah, I took care of that. I fired all escape capsules."
"You did?"
"Yeah. To be sure."
"Wow." Eran padded over to aki and sat down beside him, leaning into him. "I love you" he whispered
"Shut up." Aki play-punched him. "I love you to."
Eran grinned.
"We should get up and go again soon."
"She's not ready" Eran pointed towards Jeanne.
"I know. I will just carry her."
Eran watched, as Aki got up and scooped the human female in his arms.
Dawn was not far away.
They set off at an increased pace, quickly moving for a few minutes until Eran stopped again.
"What's wrong?"
"I hear something"
Aki noticed it now as well. It was the large howl of ship's engines. "Go for cover!" he shouted, and they moved behind a large block of stone, crouching low against the wet rock.
A finger of light brushed the landscape, and suddenly, the ship floated over them. It was Weyland's cruiser!
Aki set Jeanne down, and jumped out of cover, waving his hands at the ship. "WE ARE HERE!" he shouted over the din of the engines.
Eran watched amused from his place behind the stone.
The ship turned, Searchlights focusing on the yautja who stopped waving and shielded his eyes with his hands.
Slowly, the vessel descended and the loading ramp extended. The noise of the engines was so loud now that Eran clamped his talons on his earholes, and even Jeanne awoke and groggily mumbled something.
"ERAN! BRING HER HERE!"
He scooped up the human, and walked over to Aki, who had already jumped aboard.
Together, they lifted her up onto the ramp, and Eran clambered up afterwards.
A tired-looking Weyland greeted them, taking Jeanne off their hands, and hurrying her to the med bay.
He re-emerged, telling them that Cobe, one of the soldiers, had medical training and would fix her up.
The ship accelerated, Aki felt it. He was tired too. Even Eran looked tired. "Thank you for finding her." Weyland said. "We now only need her ship, which would probably be much easier. In fact, I think you can stay on board for that."
"We need a meal and a rest" Aki growled.
"I'll get something fixed up in the galley" Weyland said, walking up ahead, the two extra-terrestrials following him.
"You look tired too" Aki remarked.
"Tell me about it! I've been looking for you guys non-stop since the last day or so. We got worried." He laughed.
"There we are now, the Galley!"