XXIV

Silence filled the air in the briefing room as the morning began to draw in. The long, slender arm of the white analogue clock above the doorway crawled its way up to twelve, thereby marking the passing of another hour. Eight o'clock was the hour in question, and once that threshold had been crossed, the room was destined to remain silent for all of five minutes. After that, the crew would arrive, bustling into the room loudly, ready to face another day. The first to break the silence of the room was Nathan. At precisely 8:05 he came in, his heavy, steel toe-capped boots thudding noisily against the cold metal floor. He slotted his timecard into the reader by the door, then slumped down in a chair beside the room's central table. The next to arrive was Alan, who bumbled through the doorway at 8:09, gun in hand (quite literally). He took a seat beside Nathan and the two immediately began to chatter. This continued until finally, at 8:14, Ryan entered the room, his face still bruised from the previous night's dust-up. He took a seat opposite his fellow crew members, and at last, the crew were ready to begin.

"Ok, people." Alan commanded, his demeanor somewhat more optimistic than usual. "Today's the day. We find these things, and we finish them off. No questions asked. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Nathan and Alan replied in unison. After all that they had been through so far, they were just as eager as Alan to bring this whole sorry affair to an end. Whether they'd get the end they were hoping for, though, remained to be seen.

"So how do we do it?" Nathan asked, leaning back in his chair, arms folded. "And how can we be sure that it'll work?"

"Look," Alan replied, calmly. "If we can corner one like we did yesterday, we can bring it down with a single shot."

"And since Matthew's not here…" Ryan began, feeling the side of his jaw, where he had been injured the night before.

"…There's no risk of him putting our mission at stake." Alan finished, nodding as he looked over at his remaining colleagues. "So: are we ready to go?"

A few minutes later, the groundwork had been laid. Alan, Ryan and Nathan had devised a plan with which they were sure to corner and eliminate the Xenomorph threat. Now, they stood by the door, the latter two awaiting the signal of the former. For a few moments, they simply stood there, each man secretly as unwilling to advance as the others. But finally, after several long seconds, Alan gave his fellow crewmates 'the nod'. With that, the three men stepped out into the corridor, toting their weapons, ready to fire at whatever crossed their path. Although they had a clear-cut mission in mind, each of them knew that the chances of everything running smoothly were slim. This was undoubtedly the reason that they crept along at a snail's pace, flinching at every little ambient noise which resounded through the empty corridors. They now numbered just three, after all. What chance did they stand if both Xenomorphs decided to come for them in a full frontal attack?

After a while, the procession reached the engine bay. Cautiously, they stepped across the latticed-metal gangway, which thankfully had lost the electrical influence which had been bestowed upon it by Ryan's energy-burst cannon the previous night. As they trod noisily along the thick iron grating, though, a faint noise echoed through the vast chamber. The sound in question was similar to that of low breathing, somewhat laboured, perhaps. The first of the crew to pick up on the noise was Alan.

"Can you hear that?" He whispered to the others, although he continued to walk on as he spoke.

"What is it?" Ryan asked, foolishly, although by this point, of course, you will understand that he actually knew full well what 'it' was. Nevertheless, it did not take long for the others to click, and the realisation soon hit them that they were not alone…

"What shall we do?" Nathan asked, keeping his voice as low as possible, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the nearby alien.

"Ready your weapons." Alan replied, struggling to cock the barrel of his own device. "Now back away. Slowly." The trio then quietly edged themselves backwards, making their way back out into the brightly-lit corridor. The breathing moved towards them, accompanied by light footsteps. This didn't bother them, though. As long as they could coax the creature out of the engine bay, they could happily open fire with little consequence. Soon, all three men had retreated to the apparent 'safety' of the corridor. The dying noise from the engine bay told them that the creature had lost interest. All they had to do now was get its attention, and, if everything went according to plan, it would come for them. That was when they would strike.

"Ready?" Alan whispered, as the trio continued to step slowly backwards down the corridor. The others simply nodded, both of them with looks of sheer determination on their faces. Alan was the first to raise his weapon, pointing it right at the door to the engine bay. Ryan did the same, his barrel trained on the ground just in front of the door. Finally, Nathan directed his sight towards a spot on the ground not far in front of the group. With the three men ready to attack from all angles, it was go-time.

"Ok, here goes nothing…" Alan announced, clearing his throat before he continued.

"HELLO?" He shouted, almost at the top of his lungs. For a couple of seconds after that, everything was silent. But then, sure enough, the sound of rapid footsteps heading in their direction heralded the successful setting of their plan in motion.

It took little more than five seconds before the Xenomorph had forced its way through the engine bay door. It roared an ungodly roar as it locked eyes on the men (figuratively, of course), and within an instant, it began to power its way down the corridor towards them. This time, though, the three men were ready. This time, they would kill this thing, they were sure of it. In fact, before the Xenomorph had crossed even half the distance between the engine bay door and them, they had opened fire. Sparks flew everywhere. Bolts of bright white light streaked across the corridor and made sharp contact with the approaching creature. It lurched backwards in pain as huge strands of lightning-like electricity smashed against its thick exoskeleton. The three men were still not satisfied, though. They would not rest until they were absolutely sure that this alien was dead. Again and again they fired, each shot pushing the creature back slightly further. It screeched and howled, overcome with the sheer force of electricity being exerted upon it. Louder and louder it wailed, until finally, it fell, silent and lifeless on the floor.

"Did we… kill it?" Alan asked, reluctant to believe that they had truly triumphed over the creature at last. Nathan was bold enough to approach the unmoving Xenomorph, crouching by its side to observe its condition. It lay perfectly still, curled up on the floor, mouth agape. Even when Nathan reached out to touch the creature's cold, bony body, it did not move. Not even so much as a reflex action. They had done it. They had really done it, at last.

"It's dead." Nathan confirmed, his eyes welling up with tears of joy. "It's dead!" He shouted cheerfully, punching a hand into the air. Ryan and Alan shared in his excitement, rejoicing in the knowledge that they had managed to overcome one of the most formidable creatures imaginable. Sure, there was still another one at large somewhere on the ship. But hey: they were one step closer to saving the Archimedes from its untimely fate. And considering how much time they had spent trying to track just one of these creatures down in the first place, they were more than content with the result they had achieved.

"Goddard, can you get this thing into that airlock?" Alan asked, gesturing towards a door just a few metres away from where the lifeless alien lay. "Best we get rid of it for good, eh?"

"Can do, sir." Ryan nodded, already heading over to the Xenomorph corpse, ready to drag it away once and for all.

"Smith, you'd better go and tell Jones the good news." Alan continued, still trying to contain his own delight. Nathan agreed, and eagerly set off towards the stairwell. Meanwhile, Alan started issuing commands to Archie, telling him to prepare the airlock so they could jettison the body. Couldn't have a dead Xenomorph cluttering up the place, now could they? Plus, once this one had been safely taken care of, the trio could soon direct their attention towards the other killer aboard the ship.

Nathan raced down the stairway as he journeyed towards Matthew's quarters. Surely, Matthew could do with cheering up, given the fact that he was currently under zero-level clearance, couldn't he? Surely it would be the best news he'd heard all week, wouldn't it? Either way, Nathan found himself so desperate to tell someone the great news that he didn't care at all how they'd take it. Not that there was any other way to take it, or course. They'd just neutralised a dangerous, killer alien. How could anyone not see that as good news? Anyway, there was no more time for Nathan to think about this now, as he had reached Matthew's quarters. He hammered on the door eagerly, not caring at all that the other Xenomorph may still have been lurking nearby. When there was no reply, he pushed the release mechanism button on the front of the door, and it slid open.

"Matthew," Nathan began chirpily, before the door had even fully opened. "You'll never believe this. We killed one! We actually…" But then, he stopped, trailing off mid-sentence. 'Why did he stop?', I hear you ask. He stopped, my friends, for he saw something then. Something… unexpected. Something that would have made any man fall silent.