Aliens: Echoes

by AuthorZachJames

Aliens: Echoes is a lateral sequel to 2017's Alien: Covenant. It follows a company of the newly-formed Colonial Marines as they are dispatched on a rescue mission to the mysterious 'Planet 4'. The Marines make landfall and find more questions than answers, but all that is soon forgotten when they realize they are not, in fact, the most lethal fighting force on the planet.

45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Hancock sat with his back against the wall, mindlessly turning the tablet over in his hands. Despite the panic that he'd felt as they'd run from that dank, death-filled cavern, he'd had the wherewithal to grab up Janet's multiunit before running up the stairs.

"Davis." Jackson said quietly. "Hey, Hancock." The big Marine nudged Hancock's foot with his own boot. "You seen Davis?"

"He's over there, Corporal." Hancock said, pointing to the room that Davis had gone into. Jackson stood there for a moment longer.

"You doing alright, pal?" Jackson asked. Hancock blinked. When he opened his eyes, he could feel the tears welling.

"How could this happen?" Hancock asked. He looked up at Jackson, eyes shining with tears. "What the fuck, man? How could it have gone down like this?" He let out a shuddering breath. Jackson frowned and knelt down beside Hancock, a hand resting on the man's shoulder.

"It's alright, man." Jackson said. Hancock and Carson had been close, like brothers. Jackson was hurting from all the friends they'd lost so far, but he couldn't even begin to fathom how Hancock was feeling. It was times like this, downtime when your adrenaline finally dissipated and you were left with nothing to do but think, which were the worst. Jackson gave a reassuring squeeze to Hancock's shoulder before getting up to find Davis.

After a few moments of silent crying, Hancock took a deep, shaking breath. With that, he was good to go. Switched on. He'd deal with this more once they were off this fucking rock and back on the ship. He hoped that Lieutenant Brink would let him hit the button to drop the nukes.

He flipped the tablet over again and powered it on. Thankfully, that company bitch hadn't locked it with a password. Hancock hated her. Hated her and the whole fucking company for sending them here. Hated her for leading them to the city, that building. Into that room where Carson…

Hancock shoved those thoughts deep into the recesses of his mind and instead focused on the tablet. He clicked on the most recent document and began reading.

CASE FILE ADVENT / COVENANT TRANSMISSION LOGS d.21 B88Q XENOMORPHIC ENTITY. SPECIAL ORDER 931B.

PRIORITY ONE - ENSURE RETURN OF ORGANISMS AND GENETIC RESEARCH FOR ANALYSIS.

ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY.

MARINES EXPENDABLE.