STANDARD DISCLAIMER: All characters and situations relatd to the 'Alien/ Aliens and Alien 3' films are wholly owned by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The story is mine as well.

R I P L E Y

TOMORROW:

GATEWAY STATION

I

In the days before the Weyland Yutani Corporation became a conglomerate of a galactic scale, whose power easily usurped the Church's and most governments in importance, the planet Earth was a pretty nice place to live. Like every highly organised society, it had its flaws nonetheless, but still what in the universe is truly devoid of those?

Those are the days that Officer Maia Sanjay wished she had seen, but alas had been born to late.

As she made her way through the maze of Gateway station's innards, she wondered why this venue had been chosen for her to receive her latest assignment. As an Officer in the United Nations of Earth's Security Division, such business was usually conducted at Geneva Centre, in Switzerland . When her superior had contacted her and informed her to come here, Maia was filled with puzzlement. Gateway Station, was essentially, under military jurisdiction, and she certainly did not fall into that classification.

The United Nations of Earth, or UNE as the organisation was more commonly referred to; was no longer the body that it had once been. In the past, its powers had been limited by nationalism, however, with the conclusion of the last war, all countries of the world had become united under one government which controlled everything. With country to country competition eliminated, and all problems in each corner of the globe treated with an urgency of a planetary scale, famine, illness and prejudice were quickly stamped out. With no one country becoming elevated over another, the roots of bigotry and racism were quickly stamped out.

And even though it was as perfect as it could be, Maia had to admit with begrudging reluctance, that it wasn't entirely bad. It would have been better however, if it wasn't for the Company. The Weyland Yutani Corporation, of the Company as it was better known, was the fly in the ointment of Earth society. It elevated Social Darwinism to a new high, with its pursuit of the almighty dollar being achieved by ruthlessness and sheer exploitation. The lengths in which the Company went to in order to see profit was utterly damning, particularly in the case of its own employees. It was partly because of this notorious reputation that Maia had decided to seek employment with the UNE, instead of the Company. In her line of work, she preferred it, if she knew who her enemy was.

And despite herself, she knew that in her line of work, she was undeniably the best.

As Maia walked down the halls of Gateway Station, she blended in well with the people that were going about their business. They came from every walk of life, some were passengers who were waiting for ships to take them off world to the colonies, while others were returning from those same worlds. There were cargo crews who were glad to be back on Earth after so many months in hypersleep, as their freighters made the slow trip home. And then there were the station's personnel. Shipping clerks, docking technicians, customs officers and finally, the military personnel who ran everything here.

Amongst all these people, no one noticed a tall, lithe young woman wearing an expression of amusement in her dark, brown eyes. Had they stopped to look, they would have noticed that she was extraordinarily beautiful, not requiring any cosmetics to achieve that end. Her dark, bronzed skin seem to glow and her face was draped with thick, luxurious hair of jet. She wore a simple blue jumpsuit and seemed to look like another station tech, but only Maia Sanjay knew that she was not.

She turned down another corridor, which took her away from the main vein. There were less people on this particular passageway and thus, Maia knew she was approaching her destination. Looking up, she saw the door at the very end of the corridor and hastened her pace instinctively. Glancing at the watch on her wrist, she knew that she had plenty of time to make her appointment with her superior, Commander Maximillian Remar. Inwardly, Maia was looking forward to see the older man again, he had recruited her into the UNE Security Division and had overseen her training. He was not simply her superior, but her mentor and most importantly her friend.

It had been six months since she had last seen the Commander. Her last assignment had left her with some pretty extensive injuries and an extended period of convalescence was required for her to get back on her feet. Maia had spent that time in her home town, somewhere in the middle of Australia, determined to get away from it all. This meant not letting the Commander know where she was. He had a tendency to convince her to take assignments no matter what state she was in and as she reached the door, that she was on her way to, in Gateway, Maia had a feeling that this time would be no exception.

The name on the door read quite simply; General S Hanlon. While never having met the man personally, Maia knew the man by reputation. Hanlon was one of the highest ranking Generals in the UNE's army and was famous for his stance regarding his abhorrence of the Weyland Yutani Corporation. Hanlon had been pushing the UNE council to keep a closer rein on the Company's activities after stories of exploitation had leaked out from former employees. Immediately, she wondered if her summons here had anything to do with that. However, Maia decided that it was no use wondering, she might as well go in there and find out for herself.

Entering the room, Maia found it to be rather Spartan in appearance. Everything in it seemed to be of regulation standard. It was furnished with military issue, with the young woman sitting behind the desk, being the most colourful thing in the entire room. From her uniform, Maia saw that she was a lieutenant and she looked back at Maia with similar curiosity.

"Officer Sanjay?" She asked politely, obviously expecting Maia's arrival.

"That's me." Maia answered graciously. "I have a ten thirty appointment with Commander Max Remar at this location."

"The Commander's already here," the lieutenant said neutrally. "Both he and General Hanlon are expecting you." She emerged from behind her desk and led Maia to the door that led directly into Hanlon's inner sanctum.

"Thank you." Maia replied coolly and waited as Lieutenant Ann Sanders, opened the door for her and held it ajar until she passed through. As she entered, Maia also noticed that Lieutenant Sanders did not announce her to either Hanlon or the Commander.

While the Lieutenant's duty station was in standard military decor, General Hanlon's was anything but that. It was elaborately designed specifically suited to reflect the man who occupied its wall. Pictures of family and friends, hung on the walls together with numerous framed citations and medals, the trappings of a most distinguished career. Despite herself, Maia couldn't help but feel impressed by the man's accomplishments.

The General himself, was seated behind a large, handcrafted mahogany desk in the centre of the room. It sat on top of a fine, Persian carpet and Maia had to admit, the man had impeccable taste in furnishings. Meanwhile Maximillian Remar was sitting on one of two Edwardian chairs poised before the desk. Both men looked up at her in expectation and once again, Maia felt that odd feeling of uneasiness creep up her spine. Why did she have the feeling that the two of them had plans for her?

The Commander rose to his feet upon Maia's entrance as did the General. The General was a tall man, a typical Aryan type whose fair colouring ranged from his hair to his skin, indicating a Nordic background. His blue eyes studied her with a mixture of curiosity and scrutiny while scratching the goatee on the underside of his chin. The Commander on the other hand, was warmer in demeanour and in his appearance. Although the same age as Hanlon, Maximillian Remar didn't look his sixty years. He had aged gracefully, with laughing green eyes, and a receding hairline that didn't diminish his appearance, but did more to improve it.

"It's good to see you, Maia." Max smiled, with that decidedly, familiar Celtic brogue to his voice. He reached for her hand as she came to him and held it for a moment, as he regarded her warmly.

"I feel the same Max," Maia responded with a faint smile. She found that she had missed him in the last six months and wished she had kept in touch with him during her sabbatical. "How have you been?"

"The same as always," he replied. "I'm glad you've decided to come back to the Division, things were starting to get boring without you.'

"I sure." Maia retorted with a brow raised, before turning her attention to the General. She was curious to know why she was here and wanted to get the conversation moving toward that end. Staring at General Hanlon, Maia prompted the Commander to make the proper introductions.

"General Stephen Hanlon," Max said to the other man, "I'd like to introduce to you, Officer Maia Sanjay."

"I am pleased to meet you Officer Sanjay. Please sit down." Hanlon extended his hand towards her and grasped it tightly in a firm handshake. His eyes were still fixed on her, as if they had yet to finish his evaluation on her. Maia wasn't surprised by this, Hanlon was a shrewd man by reputation and to her, anyone who showed caution in an initial meeting, proved their intelligence to her. Hanlon waited until they were all seated before he continued. "You come highly recommended."

Maia was about to ask if that recommendation was Max's alone, or did he seek the testimony of other officers she had worked with. However, at the moment, it was not prudent to do so. At least, not until she found out why she was here. "Thank you General," she replied, before turning to Max. "I receive your instructions to meet you here Sir, may I know what is going on?"

"Well," Max turned to the General, and sighed loudly. "I think that should be up to the General to explain, Maia. This is really his operation."

Internal sirens began sounding inside Maia, and she wondered what she was being set up for. This meeting was taking on rather clandestine proportions and she hoped it wasn't going to be as bad as it was shaping out to be. Still, baser instincts prevailed, and her conditioning forced her to remain silent as the General began to speak.

"Tell me Officer Sanjay," he finally began, "what do you know about Extra Terrestrial Life?"

Maia looked up at him in surprise. For a moment, she almost asked him if he was serious, but the expression in his eyes told her that he was and she gave the question the due consideration. "Extra Terrestrial Life?" She mused as her mind correlated everything she knew on the subject.

"Yes." Hanlon nodded in confirmation.

"Alright," she started after a moment. "I know, that to date, the off world zoological table has mainly microbes and soft shelled life forms. Most of the planets and satellites we have colonised from here to the Rim have produced nothing significant in the way of intelligent life. As of this moment, the most promising life form that has been encountered so far, rivals the common tree squirrel in both intelligence and size. We have yet to find anything that is remotely equal to us in intelligence and technology." Maia declared, concluding her commentary.

"I am impressed." Hanlon replied in honest surprise. "You have kept yourself appraised of the situation."

"Let's just say I am interested." Maia retaliated. She glanced at Max sharply, wishing they would just get on with what they had to say. If there was one thing she hated, it was useless dalliance. "Now, why am I here?"

"Always to the point, Officer Sanjay?" Hanlon looked at her and sighed. "Very well then, to the business at hand."

Finally, Maia thought with relief, and about damned time.

II

"Ten days ago," Hanlon began. "We received a communication from Zeta Outpost, one of our stations on the Rim. It seems that six months ago, one of the salvage contractors in the sector came across an old military ship. Judging from the technology and the state of deterioration, it looks like the vessel had been a drift for quite some time. Zeta Outpost identified the ship as the Sulloco. It was a military ship, specifically assigned for the transportation of military personnel. There was no one on board and according to the flight recorder which was still intact on the vessel, some electrical failure had caused it to jettison its hypersleep pods into an EEV."

"Really?" Maia mused, undeniably interested. Nothing challenged her curiosity more than a mystery.

"Yes, but there's more," he continued. "We managed to obtain the crew manifesto and we have learnt that the Sulloco left Earth thirty five years ago, with a full complement of Colonial Marines, a synthetic and two civilian consultants. There is no record of any of these people ever being seen alive again and when Outpost Zeta sent us the Sulloco's flight recorder and a download of the ship's computer banks, we understand why this is so."

" I don't understand." Maia spoke up. "If they were jettisoned in an EEV during hypersleep, they must have arrived somewhere, alive. The EEV is programmed to take all survivors to a habitable planet."

"Exactly," Hanlon answered. "But the fact is, only four people had escaped in the EEV, we have reason to believe that it might have made it to a small planet in the Rim, called Fiorina. The others never left Acheron." He looked at her with an expression of stone and Maia felt her skin crawl for some reason. "Acheron was a mining colony and thirty five years ago, it suffered a thermo-nuclear explosion. The cause of which was a reactor leak in one of the primary coolers of the atmosphere processor on site. Until ten days ago, that conclusion was never challenged, at least until the findings from the Sulloco surfaced. The reason Colonial Marines had been despatched to Acheron was because the Company had lost contact with the colony and it is standard procedure for the military to investigate."

"But wasn't there any kind of investigation when the Sulloco failed to return to Earth?" Maia inquired, thinking that this whole situation was inherently strange and seeing that there was Company involvement, piqued her suspicions. "Its my understanding that in such instances there should at least be a rescue attempt."

"There wasn't." Max suddenly replied, adding his own voice to the discussion finally. "There was no rescue attempt and when we started investigation, the Company even denied that they had even made any request for military assistance. What's more," he added further, "I get the impression that they didn't like our interest in the matter."

"That's typical." Maia snorted cynically. This only further reinforced Maia's idea that the Company was at the bottom of all of this and she wondered how deep this mystery went.

"However, we understand why they are so desperate to keep the Sulloco incident a secret." Hanlon picked up the conversation once again. He reached behind his desk into a drawer and pulled out a large manila folder. "Take a look at these." Hanlon handed Maia the entire package.

Maia looked at him with puzzlement, before she reached into the folder and emptied its contents. Inside of it, had been several glossy photographs and even though the images were obscured by the poor quality of the overall picture, what she saw was enough to send a cold shiver through her spine. The photographs were a mosaic of shadows, disjointed figures and pure terror. Maia found a lump in her throat as she observed them. The pictures were taken from someone's camera recorder, it was standard procedure for military personnel to carry such devices, in for evaluations to be made at a latter date over performance.

Maia didn't doubt for a second that the person to whom this camcorder image belonged, was dead. The cause of his or hers death was painfully obvious. The creature that was advancing out of the darkness, seemed like the product of an ugly nightmare, baring teeth that were inches in length, with a strange elongated head and no eyes. She didn't doubt that it was anything other than hostile. It seemed utterly terrifying and Maia wondered what kind of death had it given to the crew of the Sulloco.

"What is this?" She asked after a moment, her voice was barely a whisper. In her time, she had seen much death and much horror. The ugliness of human avarice had not left her untouched or unscathed, but until now, she had never really seen such hideousness. Certainly not the hideousness displayed in those soulless alien face.

"A new life form." Hanlon answered, allowing her a moment to compose herself. He too knew what was going through her mind and he could sympathise with her discomfort. "We believe the Company was trying to keep the existence of this creature a secret. Judging from the camcorder tapes found on the Sulloco, these aliens overwhelmed the colony of Hadley's Hope in Acheron and the Colonial Marines that went there to help them. We believe the ensuing fight between the aliens and the Marines destroyed the Acheron colony and killed all the creatures."

"Then why am I here?" Maia inquired. While all this was fascinating and terrifying in some instances, none of it explained why she was summoned to meet both these men.

Hanlon looked to Max to answer her and once again, Max took his turn to speak. "We made some investigations into the fate of the EEV. As we told you before, we believe that the EEV from the Sulloco actually made it to Fiorina 361, a prison planet on the Rim. Once again, we made inquiries as to what happened when the EEV arrived and now we find out that six months after the destruction of Acheron, Fiorina Prison shut down under mysterious circumstances with rumours of some biological contaminant. The prison was occupied by at least forty inmates," Max replied meeting Maia's gaze. "When it was closed, only one prisoner walked away."

"What did the Correctional Department have to say about it?" Maia asked surprised.

"Nothing," Max shrugged, "Fiorina was a Company facility."

Well, Maia thought inwardly, what a surprise. "Is he still alive?" She asked. "It would be a good idea to talk to him."

"He died some years ago," Hanlon answered, "but those who remembered him, did say he talked about a dragon that invaded the prison and that it killed everybody. Apparently, a survivor from the EEV killed the thing before dying as well. Shortly after that, the Company took charge of Fiorina and they shut the whole facility down." The General took a deep breath and a sip of the glass of water on his desk, before he continued. "We have learnt that the Company has Fiorina 361 under tight surveillance, they have a space station orbiting the planet and we want to know why. That's why you are here, Officer Sanjay."

"This is simple recon work." Maia pointed out, even though she had to admit her interest had been sufficiently aroused. "You hardly need me to carry it out."

"Under normal circumstances," the general answered, "you are probably right. But I want to find out more than just what the Company has down in Fiorina, I want to know what this entire conspiracy of silence is about. They are required by law, to report the discovery of extra-terrestrial life and yet, they have gone to great pains to make certain that no one knows about this creature's existence."

It's something dirty alright," Maia retorted. "For this much effort to cover their tracks, it has to be."

"Exactly," Max agreed. "Now you see why we need you."

Maia nodded slowly. "Gentlemen," she replied looking up, after a few seconds of thought. "I am at your disposal. What do you have in mind?'

Hanlon and Max exchanged an enigmatic look, which immediately put Maia on guard. After a few moments, when both had decided that they would launch ahead with the bombshell they were going to drop on her, Hanlon turned to her again.

"Tell me Officer Sanjay," he said with a smile. "Have you ever spent any time in the service?"

CHAPTER ONE I

Cutting it a bit close, Mac.

The young man leaning against the wall of the latrine told himself this several times. Yet, even as he did, he knew that he was not going to heed his own conscience's advice. At this minute, all he cared about was lighting the cigarette in his hand and not much else. He wasn't really a young man, for he was almost in his mid twenties, but his boyish features seemed to deceive most people. Putting the cigarette to his mouth, he ran one hand through the short, cropped blond hair on his head. Despite its length, the short strands were almost the colour of dark gold. Blue eyes which were somewhat piercing in its gaze, stared vacantly at the opposing wall of the latrine.

Physically, he was a near perfect specimen of manhood. Taut muscles that had been worked to perfection, through sheer hard work flexed unconsciously, each time he moved. They had been moulded by the demands of his vocation and despite this, he did not look like an overstated piece of meat. A trained eye could tell that his physique was built for endurance, not body sculpting. He was, in that essence, very much a typical Colonial Marine soldier.

Standing against the tiled wall of the latrine, he took a deep breath of the cigarette in his mouth, savouring it with quiet delight. Even though he wasn't addicted to them, he had to admit, there were moments when the taste of a cigarette was incomparable to anything else in the world. Yet his enjoyment was only half hearted because Senior Corporal Kevin MacReady knew he shouldn't be doing this. At the moment, he was supposed to be falling in with the rest of his comrades, who were outside waiting for the arrival of their new commanding officer.

Well, he supposed he couldn't really complain about that, after all a change of a commanding officer was a welcome one. After having to put up with Lieutenant Devine for the past two months, MacReady was pleased that someone else was replacing him. Devine was a fresh faced kid from West Point, who had no more experience that the youngest of the Marines he commanded. His inexperience had almost gotten them killed on several occasions and it didn't help very much that Devine was a pompous asshole as well. Still, the powers that be must have some wisdom if they knew enough to send a replacement.

Throwing the cigarette butt on the white tiled floor, MacReady extinguished the tiny flame with the sole of his heavy combat boots. He decided that it would be a good idea if he joined his fellow Marines before Devine or worse yet, the Sarge, discovered he was missing and come in here to get in. Walking out of the latrine, he re-entered the main deck of the Sparta, the military ship that housed his platoon of Colonial Marines.

Habitation on a specific ship was no uncommon in this day and age. Marines were assigned to a particular ship in much the same way as the navy assigned personnel in the past. Marine ships were almost totally automated requiring one synthetic person to operate the hyperdrive and navigational systems. In this way, the soldiers were able to make their ship their home base. Most Marines lived on their assigned ships and returned to Earth only during furlough. The ships themselves, gave every Marine their own private quarters, including in the amenities, a gymnasium, a Holo-Vid theatre, a recreation centre, a swimming pool and a Sick Bay. This not only instilled it with a sense of permanence, but gave the individuals that it housed a feeling of belonging, which thus induced better performance.

And it also helped that there were no gender restrictions.

The main deck was full of Marines and although they had yet to fall in, MacReady sensed that they were more or less expecting the Sarge to make his appearance fairly soon. At the moment, Sergeant Parker and Lieutenant Devine were probably ushering their new commanding officer towards this location.

MacReady wondered momentarily what the new C.O would be like and hoped secretly that the brass sent them someone with half a brain this time. Surely, they couldn't get someone who was worse than Lieutenant Devine.

"Hey Mac," he heard the smooth, silky tones of Private Tina Marin calling him as he proceeded deeper into the room.

MacReady turned to the petite young woman that was making her way towards him. She was one of the most attractive women on the team, with a curvy figure than was made more appealing by its sinewy strength. Her skin was lighter than most Latinos but her lustful, brown eyes made her face undeniably Hispanic, especially with her full, round and sensuous lips. Her physical beauty, however, always seemed incidental to her manner. Marin was one of two Smart gunners in the outfit and it was a job she did well.

Smart gunners were responsible for the Smart guns of the platoon. Like a gunnery turret of their own, the Smart guns were capable of great firepower and required trained expertise to be handled. Smart gunners chosen for the task had to undergo extensive training in the use of the weapon. Marin's partner or fellow Smart gunner, Private Alex Quinn, was a stark contrast to her small, petite form. While she stood barely past five foot two, Quinn rose well above six foot three. Her olive completion differed from his Caucasian characteristics of blond hair and blue eyes. They were like chalk and cheese and yet somehow, despite all the differences, Marin and Quinn were seen rarely apart with shared dedication to their work.. It often surprised MacReady how professional their relationship was and if there was intimacy between them, at how well they hid it. Still, made him wondered why such an attractive woman as Marin, would choose this kind of life for herself, but then again, he was hardly the one to talk. He didn't have to do this either.

"Yeah Tina?" He asked, after he had stopped and waited for her to catch up with him.

"You know anything about this new C.O?" She inquired.

"Not a thing." MacReady admitted. "The brass has been pretty tight lipped about whose taking over."

"You know Mac," another new voice interrupted. "Always one step ahead." This time both MacReady and Marin looked up to see the arrival of Junior Corporal Tim Addison. Addison, who MacReady was often forced reluctantly to admit was his best friend, was a noisy Com-tech who had a tendency to shoot off his mouth before having sufficient time to engage his brain into gear. Despite that however, MacReady considered Addison a close friend and took it upon himself to protect the young man from himself, whenever possible.

"Actually," Addison continued on a more serious note. "I've been asking around and no one seems to have any scoop on who our new Commanding officer is going to be."

"They don't run ads man." Marin looked at him indifferently, thinking that this was just another Addison spawned paranoia. They knew him well enough to know that Addison had an over-active imagination and sometimes this led him and ultimately them as well, on many wild goose chases.

"I know that," Addison retorted, "but I mean no ones heard anything at all! I mean not even my contacts down at HQ has the file on a replacement." He insisted.

"This wouldn't be the same contact that you that we were all going to get six weeks of furlough instead of two days, was it?" MacReady looked at him sceptically, remembering the debacle that particular mistake had caused. He had spent three days trying to track Addison down, who thought he had a six week furlough and had promptly taken off to parts unknown. MacReady finally found him somewhere in South East Asia and both of them were three days AWOL. If it hadn't been for the Sarge's intervention, they could have really been in a lot of trouble.

"Very funny." He snorted. "But I'm serious, no one has heard anything about it at all. Not even the Colonel at HQ has any paperwork on the replacement."

Now that was odd, MacReady was forced to admit. However, he was not about to tell Addison that. His best friend had enough problems without MacReady adding fuel to fire. Still, now that he thought about it more deeply, he found that it was unusual that no one knew anything about their new CO. Usually, even if they were unconfirmed rumours, there would be some scuttle butt about who the candidate would be. But there had been nothing, not even a whisper down the proverbial military grapevine and that was very unusual. If not unheard of. Yet it was nothing that he could be absolutely certain about, military politics was something that MacReady didn't confess to understanding and he wasn't about to try.

"Look," MacReady eyed Addison critically. "I don't think there's any fucking conspiracy."

Before the Com tech could open his mouth to come up with a suitable retort, the loud voice of Sergeant Parker boomed through the air, throughout the room. Immediately, more on reflex than response to that commanding voice, the eleven Marines present, snapped out of their private conversations and marched promptly to the centre of the room, in order to fall in line. Not more than ten seconds had passed, before they were all standing at attention in a neat, and orderly row.

Sergeant Ronald Parker was all army.

As the stout, African - American strode into the room, he looked like nothing like a man of forty years. Physically, he was perfect for his age and the men and the women in his command would readily attest that he was their equal in that way as well, despite his seniority. Parker wore his usual scowl as he entered the room with Devine and the new commanding officer, displaying his ever gruff persona. Yet, despite this, everyone knew he was a family man with two grown daughters. Still, it was Parker that the Marines focused their loyalty towards. It was Parker who had trained most of them and it was also Parker, who had earned their respect.

Devine on the other hand, did not.

He epitomised the type of officer that often brought out the animosity of most enlisted personnel. Angular featured with a surprising lack of chin, Devine was in his early twenties, the same age as most of the Marines themselves. He always seemed to be perfectly attired in his uniform, with hair that was always regulation cut to perfection, uniform that was ideally neat and his face was always too clean shaven. Devine was the ideal blond and blue eye poster boy recruit for West Point, every much the officer and proud of it.

Still, to his credit, it was obvious that Devine was inexperienced and aware of it. Much of the time, when he had been in command of their missions, Devine had felt comfortable turning the reins over to Sergeant Parker. While this method worked some of the time, most of the time they barely got out with their lives and the resentment for Devine deepened. Even though it was not his fault that he had been given the assignment, it was obvious that Devine lacked the skills required for leading a Colonial Marine Squad. It was likely this reasoning that allowed the high command to assign a new commanding officer to them, who was able to make the decision making process easily.

The first thing MacReady noticed about the Commanding officer, when she had walked into the room in between Parker and Devine, was the fact that she was female. Normally, it would make no difference to MacReady what sex she was, but this time it had been different. Not only was she female, but she was for starters, breath taking beautiful. No amount of professionalism on his part could have prepared his masculine instincts from taking over. She was beautiful even though she had taken every precaution to hide the fact.

She wore a simple, army green military issued jumpsuit with the rank insignia of a Captain. The only other thing of significance on the uniform, was her name stencilled neatly in black, on her breast pocket, which read; Captain M. Sanjay. From the moment she had stepped on the floor, MacReady and most likely the rest of the Marines, knew she was a world of difference from Lieutenant Devine. He had been observing her the second she had entered the room and since she had, her eyes had scanned everything in sight with almost laser like precision. MacReady knew the procedure well enough himself, to recognise what she was doing.

Study and commit to memory.

Parker had drummed that into all their heads during basic training. It had been a lesson he taught them repeatedly with strict demands of perfection. Not until MacReady had obtained his first real taste of combat, did he understand the full magnitude of the practice. After all, the unfortunates who hadn't learnt were no longer among the living. They had found out the hard way.

The Captain followed Parker and Devine, allowing the man to take the lead while she stayed quietly in the background. MacReady guessed this was mainly so she could continue her observations unhampered until it was time for her to take the lead. That moment came sooner than either of them had anticipated and within seconds, Parker was standing before the neat row of Colonial Marine soldiers. Captain Sanjay took a deep breath and then joined him in two easy steps.

"Sir," Parker turned to her. "The troops are ready for your inspection." His eyes bore the hint of her challenge, telling her that this was her first test of command ability. MacReady knew that look well, Parker was more or less daring her to prove to him that she could cut it as commander of the Colonial Marines.

"Excellent." She replied coolly and marched forward without thanking him. MacReady smiled as he saw her walk towards them. Thanking Parker would have weakened her in his eyes, and the absence of any thanks from her had proved that she knew it as well. Only MacReady could see the inward sigh of relief from the Sergeant. The brass hadn't sent them someone inexperienced or who was a fool. This Captain was the genuine article and had more or less earned their sergeant’s confidence.

For now.

*************

"I am Captain Maia Sanjay. I am your new commanding officer."

Maia stared at the men and women who formed the Brave Company, Colonial Marine Squad. Judging from their expressions, they hadn't expected their new commanding officer to be a woman, or one that could stand off with the Sergeant and walk away with some dignity intact. She knew from the moment that she had met Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Parker, that if she didn't take the upper hand with him, she would get no where with leading this squad. Parker was a man whose respect had to be earned, and that was not easy to do. Their exchange moments ago had got her off to a good start and she knew that now, they would be able to forge a good working relationship.

When Hanlon had first told her what her cover would be in this mission, she had balked at the idea. Becoming a Captain in the army was not what she had signed on for, even though being in the UNE Security was not unlike being in the military. As the time for her to assume her cover drew nearer, she had looked upon it with some trepidation, but now she was pleased to admit that it was not as bad as she thought it was going to be. The men and women before looked competent enough, their Sergeant undoubtedly was, however, she was sure about the Lieutenant though. Devine looked like a kid who had been thrown into the wolves, before he knew how to walk. No doubt, Hanlon had assigned her to this particular squad for that reason as well.

"Your squad," she continued, "has the reputation of being the best in the Colonial Marine Corp. You will forgive me if I don't take that at face value. I would like to see that for myself in the days to come. However, in the meantime, I will do my best to command this squad without being too heavy handed. You are after all, the best and you know your jobs. I will not interfere with that unless those jobs are not carried out to my satisfaction. For the immediate present, we have been given an assignment that will take us to Fiorina 361. I suggest you spend today getting some rest, because tomorrow, we will be underway. "

With that Maia concluded her speech and took a step backwards. Looking them over one final time, she took another deep breath and spoke; "you're dismissed."

II

"I'd love her to lay a command on me." Addison sniggered once they were alone again. With Parker and Devine leaving shortly after the Captain had, the Marine were abuzz with speculations regarding their new commanding officer. Most of the response had been regarding the Captain's physical attributes and predictably, this came from the men.

MacReady rolled his eyes in resignation at Addison's remark, although he couldn't say that he wouldn't have minded getting to know the Captain himself, if she was anybody but his Captain and his commanding officer. "Keep it in your pants," he advised instead, "I have a feeling that she's been around the block before and she won't be as easy to fuck around with as Devine."

"Too bad," Addison sighed dreamily. "That's a nice piece of ass." He commented and MacReady shook his head in defeat.

"She's got killer eyes." Marin pointed out, adding her voice to the conversation. That thought seem to cast a pall on the discussion, yet no one on the floor could find any reason to dispute the Smart gunner’s claim. MacReady would tend to agree with Marin, he had seen the Captain's eyes and they did indeed seem hard and cold. The kind of eyes that had been through a life time of ugliness. Or as Marin put it, killer eyes.

"Killer eyes man," she repeated. "I know them anywhere. Ain't never saw it on no officer before. I never though CO's could get that kind of hurt."

"Just as long as she knows her job," MacReady spoke reminding them all what the most important thing was. They were all misfits in one way or another who had found themselves in the Marine Corp to get away from pasts that they no longer cared about or wished to live in. If the Captain was cut of that same cloth, what right did they have to complain? Weren't they all here because they had their own secrets to keep?

"Did you see Lieutenant Devine's face?" This came from their Med Tech, Private Catherine Yates, a willowy framed red head with deep green eyes and a sweetened nature that seemed ill fitted for her job as a Marine. From the moment, Yates had joined the Marine Corp, no one in her squad could understand what she was doing here. Yates was a naive young woman, who saw optimism in everything and often took it upon herself to boost morale when necessary. Even though she was less battle hardened than anyone else in the group, Yates had struggled to make certain that she did her job with as much dedication and efficiency as everyone else. That alone had garnered her, their respect.

"He was pissed off as hell." Growled Quinn. "Good." It was common knowledge that Private Alex Quinn did not like Lieutenant Devine. After all, Devine represented the worst kind of soldier, the bureaucrat and the fact that the Lieutenant didn't have the experience to command a Colonial Marine Squad did not meet favourably in the Smart gunner’s eyes. Quinn understood the chain of command well but he had little impatience with commanders who had less experience than their underlings.

"No one likes being replaced." MacReady retorted. "Especially by a woman." He teased and steeled himself from the indignant allegations of sexism by the women around him. "And one who looks the way the Captain does." He smiled mischievously and received a hearty round of groans from the females while the men around him cheered him on, because his feelings mirrored their own. Still, despite their amused disposition, MacReady could sense that his comrades were also hiding their true feelings regarding their new Captain.

Which was mainly in regards to what kind of officer she was. Even though she didn't seem to be like Devine in any way, there was something about her manner that wasn't quite right. MacReady couldn't pin-point himself what that was, but he knew that his instincts were rarely wrong and wondered what it was that Captain M. Sanjay was hiding.

He hoped that whatever it was, it was going to get them killed in combat.

**************

Maia walked into the moderately spacious Senior Officer's quarters on board the Sparta. Even though it was supposed to be military standard, she was surprised by how comfortable it look. Everything had been designed ergonomically. Because of the time that personnel would be spending on board the Sparta, the designers of the vessel had taken great pains to make living quarters as comfortable and as homely as possible. She walked in slowly and noticed that her duffel bag was sitting on top of the small dinner table. A large window gave her a breath taking view of the stars outside and the Earth below. The furniture though sparse was compensated for by storage units on the wall and she was even pleased to see a personnel Vid screen on a nearby wall.

She walked to a small refrigeration unit in the wall next to the dinner table and helped herself to the water that was in there, chilling away. After pouring a glass of it for herself, Maia found herself standing by the huge picture window, staring into the iridescent space beyond the glass. It was so easy to lose oneself in the peace of the stars, she thought. So easy to remove oneself from all the ugliness of the real world and the intrigues that crept through life.

There was something about this mission that bothered Maia a great deal. Ever since she had accepted this assignment, she had felt uneasy and instincts told her that there was more to this, than just some dead alien creature. All of it seemed to surround the derelict ship, Sulloco and a sequence of events that had taken place thirty five years ago. Something more than duty compelled her to find out, because the Sulloco was only the surface. The surface of something imaginably horrible that was enough to put the fear of god into the great Weyland Yutani Corporation.

The answers lay out there in two places.

In space.

And in the voices of the dead.

CHAPTER TWO

I

The facilities on the Sparta were quite extensive, providing for all the needs of its occupants, and as Maia entered the Sick Bay, she found this room not lacking for anything either. It was more than just a room, it was a complex medical centre which was fully equip with machinery and instruments to deal with any medical emergency. Although it was not the most technologically up to date Sick Bay in the universe, it was very close to fulfilling that particular goal.

She entered the white walled area and immediately smelt the distinct odour of disinfectant. No matter where the facility or how advance or primitive the technology, Maia recognised that smell as universal. The Sick Bay was the last leg of her tour of the ship and she had been duly impressed by everything she had seen so far. The Sparta had shed some her of misconceptions regarding military life and she could see the sense in designing the vessel so that its human inhabitants would think of it as a home. In itself, it was a perfect self contained environment for humans who were often sent to one end of the Rim to the other. Thus no matter, where they were, the Marines who lived on this ship would always have a piece of home close by and this did wonders for morale.

Maia had been standing in Sick Bay for more than a few seconds, when all of a sudden, a cool, deliberate voice spoke up. "Can I help you?"

Looking over her shoulder at the speaker, she found herself staring at a man. As Maia turned around to face him, she noticed that he was not much older than she was, with straw coloured hair that was not military issue and blue eyes that looked at her through steel rimmed glasses. He had a pleasant look about him and reminded her of one of the boys she had known in college. "

"I'm Captain Maia Sanjay." She introduced herself by extending her hand towards him.

At first, he seemed surprised that she would offer her hand, but after a second of hesitation, the man exchanged the handshake with more confidence. "I am please to meet you Captain Sanjay, " he answered, "I am the local artificial person. You can call me Foster."

"I will," she smiled before turning her attention back to the Sick Bay facilities. "This is pretty impressive Foster, I didn't know that the military kept so up to date with its medical equipment."

"Next to weapons, medical equipment is a top priority." Foster answered politely. "This centre has been equip with the best technology currently available and thus is able to cope with any medial emergency."

"Then you are a qualified doctor then?" She inquired.

"Yes I am," he said with a tinge of pride. "Among other things of course, my programming was varied." He added for her benefit.

Maia didn't doubt it. One of the reasons that Artificial Life forms were so popular these days was because of the amount of programming their memory capacity could contain. Not only was Foster a capable doctor, but he probably had extensive engineering and piloting skills. His responsibilities extended not only to the well being of the Marines themselves, but also to the maintenance of their ship and their transportation to the locations of their missions. Maia also guessed that Foster would have remarkable affinity with computers and it was this skill that she wanted to utilise at the moment.

"Excellent," she nodded in response to his admission. "I have some need of you Foster," Maia spoke up, meeting him eye to eye. He still found it difficult to face a human that way and Maia wished the programmers who had created the artificial humans had the sense to add in a component of confidence and self esteem to their personality. Maia went on to explain the situation with the Sulloco and the possible existence of a life form. She felt honesty was the best way to proceed with Foster, because she knew that if she swore him to secrecy, he would die before betraying her. It wasn't that she didn't want the Marines to know what they may be getting into at Fiorina, for she herself didn't know, but it would simpler for to uncover her conspiracy theory without their interference.

"I need information from Weyland Yutani and I'm sure they're not going to give it to me willingly," she explained, "so I am going to need you to make a discreet interface with their computers and pull it out without them knowing. Can you do it?"

There was never a question on whether or not he would obey the request, Maia's query had been whether he would be able to make the interface in the first place. Artificial humans were programmed to obey all humans, their limitations, if they could be call that, was the Asimov Tenet in their programming. Based on Asimov's book, `I Robot', synthetics couldn't harm humans, nor could they by their actions allow a human to harmed and that included being given a command to do so by another human. Thus Maia had every confidence that Foster would follow her request to the best of his abilities.

"I am able to access much of the Company's data base," he replied., "It should be no problem for me to interface with their main computer and obtain the information that you require."

"Good," she replied, pleased that she would be able to get some answers at least. "Are you busy right now, I'd like to get down to work as soon as possible."

"I am not doing anything that cannot wait," Foster replied amiably, seeming a little more at ease with her. "If you require me now, I am at your disposal." He added.

"I do," Maia said abruptly. "Come along."

************

The two of them seated themselves before the computer terminal in the ship's communication centre on the Sparta. Once again, Maia was duly impressed by the state of the art in computer equipment that was found in the room. The monitor screen in front of them was nearly as large as a window and Maia found herself easing back into her chair to get a more peripheral view of it. Foster sat down at the keyboard, waiting patiently for her to make her requests of him.

"Alright," she said after a moment, "pull out the crew manifest of the Sulloco. I had the information transferred to your main computer prior to my arrival on board. You should be able to access it with no problems."

Foster nodded and his fingers flew over the computer keyboard with rapid dexterity. Less than a second later, the information she requested appeared on the huge screen.

CREW MANIFEST OF THE USS SULLOCO.

LIEUTENANT H. GORMAN PRIVATE L. DIETRICH

SERGEANT. R. APONE PRIVATE S. VASQUEZ

SENIOR CORPORAL D. HICKS PRIVATE J. DRAKE

JUNIOR CORPORAL S. HUDSON PILOT T. FERRO

PRIVATE F. CROW PILOT D. SPUNKMEYER

PRIVATE E. WIEZBASKI CIVILIAN E. RIPLEY

PRIVATE M. FROST CIVILIAN C.J. BURKE

ARTIFICIAL SYNTHETIC PERSON BISHOP

"Marines I can understand," Maia mused to know one in particular, once she had scanned the names on the screen thoroughly. "But why civilians?"

"Civilians are sometimes brought on missions for special purposes," Foster offered. "If it is a Company matter, then it is not unusual for them to send their own personnel with the military to safeguard their own interests. Also, where alien life forms are concerned, sometimes a consultant may be sent along to advise the squad. This consultant is usually a scientists of some sort, depending on what the information required is."

"I see," Maia nodded, deciding that Foster was going to be a big help her. "I don't think there's anything clandestine about the Marine squad themselves, but I want you to see what can be found on the two civilians."

"Yes Sir." Foster said automatically and set to work. His fingers were a flurry of movement across the keyboard once again and after a few seconds of intense pounding, pushed the `Enter' key with expectation. The screen flared up with information once again and this time it took both of them a few minutes to get through it all. Much of the information was regarding CJ Burke or as his records stated, Carter J Burke.

"He was a real poster boy recruit for the Company." Maia remarked. "Graduated at Yale with honours, rich parents and nice background." The bulk of the data involved Mr Burke's extensive educational achievements and basically irrelevant information about his personal life that Maia had no use for. Finally, they came to the information they did want.

"It says here that he was lost with all hands, on the Sulloco." Foster declared.

"Alright," she sighed trying not to be discouraged. "Let's see what we can find on the other one." She said looking at Foster.

Foster nodded and accessed the file. This time, the document was not as lengthy but certainly more illuminating than CJ Burke's had been. Maia read through the document quickly, garnering personal and professional details about person called E. Ripley. "This Ripley was a Company Cargo Contractor. Why would she be considered a consultant?" Maia declared.

Suddenly, Foster noticed something and spoke up immediately. "Sir," he said sitting up. "Look at her birth date." He pointed to the screen.

At first, Maia didn't see what he was referring to, but then when she looked at the year, she understood the reason for his consternation. "That's got to be a computer error." She replied. "That can't be right, it says she was born about a 125 years ago." However, before she had even got the words out, Foster was already prying into the computer banks to prove that she was correct, that it was a computer malfunction. A few minutes later, he looked up at her in defeat and astonishment.

"The date is correct Sir," he replied. "I accessed the Registry of Births, E. Ripley was born 125 years ago."

Maia fell back into her chair in amazement. "Foster, how can that be?" She looked at him. "The woman who left with the Sulloco was supposed to be thirty three years old, in this day and age she should be in her late sixties." The synthetic said nothing and Maia forced herself to think hard. "Alright," she nodded decisively, "get me her Company File."

After a few seconds of intense interfacing with the Weyland Yutani's main frame computer, Foster produced the information. Maia didn't doubt that it had been an easy task, he had easily spent a few minutes trying to get around the numerous security programmes that had been installed in the system. Nevertheless, E. Ripley's employment records at Weyland Yutani was displayed for her perusal.

"There it is," Maia declared. "Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, shipped out of Earth 93 years ago on board the Nostromo, a commercial ore carrier. Was thought to be lost with all hands when she was found on board the Nostromo's life pod Narcissus, in hypersleep by a salvage crew, 57 years later. At a board of inquiry convened by the Company, she claimed that an alien life form had killed all crew members and she was forced to set the ship for auto destruct in order to kill it. The Company found no evidence to support her story and decided that she had behaved improperly and stripped her off everything. Six months later, she was shipped out on the Sulloco by the Company, with full reinstatement as a Flight Officer."

When she finished, she swivelled around in her chair and turned to face Foster. "57 years," she whistled softly. "Is it possible to remain in hypersleep for so long?"

"Theoretically, yes." Foster answered in contemplation. "Hypersleep pods can function on extended periods of time up till sixty to seventy years before mechanical deterioration starts to take place and affect the system. If she was floating in space all that time, with the life pod not encountering any spatial phenomena's, it would have been very possible for her to survive for 57 years."

"Amazing," She remarked under her breath and got back to the work at hand. "I need to see everything on the vessel Nostromo. If I am correct, when a ship is set for self destruct, the computer down loads all the information in the flight recorder and sends it off in a transmission, does it not?"

"Yes," Foster replied, impressed by her knowledge. "I will access that information for you as well."

The information on the Nostromo was readily available and not as difficult to access now that Foster knew how to get past the safeguards on the system. Within a few seconds, all available information on the Nostromo, including the details of the flight recorder appeared on the screen in front of them. According to the flight recorder, the ship had been on the return trip home from the Mining Guild, when they were forced to make an unscheduled stop at LV427, at the time an unsurveyed planet, in order to investigate a signal of unknown origin. It remained in orbit around the planet for twenty four hours before continuing on its journey and less than ten hours later, was set for self destruct by Officer Ripley.

Maia looked at the crew list, feeling that earlier chill of dread in her spine pricking at her skin again. First the Nostromo and then the Sulloco, could one alien life form be so devastatingly dangerous on humans? It seemed that no one encountering these creatures lived to tell the tale. No one that is, until Ellen Ripley. Maia studied the names on the screen and committed them to memory in case of use at a later date.

CAPTAIN M.DALLAS

FIRST OFFICER C. CAIN

WARRANT OFFICER E. RIPLEY

SCIENCE OFFICER F. ASH

NAVIGATION

OFFICER P. LAMBERT

CHIEF ENGINEER W. PARKER

ASSISTANT ENGINEER K. BRETT

"The body counts seems to rise every time someone comes into contact with this creature." Maia mused and wondered why the Company wanted so desperately to hide this from the Army and the UNE. Even though they should have given Ripley the benefit of the doubt, when they dismissed her claims about an alien, it was hardly an offence that would warrant this much subterfuge. What was it they were so desperate to keep secret?

"Captain," Foster spoke up suddenly and when Maia glanced at him, she saw that he had something on his mind. "There is something you should know."

"What is it?" She asked intently.

"LV427 was renamed about fifty five years ago." He said softly. "They called it Acheron."

II

It was nearly evening when she and Foster finally finished up at the communications centre. Despite their access to private the Company's main frame, their toil bore little fruit. There was almost no further information regarding Ellen Ripley and the Nostromo and Maia was forced to admit, that this might simply be because there was no more information to access. She had instructed Foster to keep searching when he had the time, but for herself, she had enough of staring at a computer screen for most of the day. Knowing that she should be getting some rest since tomorrow they would be making preparations to ship out, Maia couldn't bring herself to sleep just yet. There were too many questions whizzing around her head at the moment and none of it made any sense.

She knew for a fact that Ripley of the Nostromo had been on the Sulloco. They had brought her along as a consultant because she had encountered the same alien 57 years before the Acheron colony had been devastated. Maia could also understand why Ripley had been reinstated as a flight officer once again. The Company needed her expertise and after so ruthlessly declaring that she was accountable for the Nostromo's destruction, without taking into account that a dangerous life form was running around lose at the time, they had to do something to convince her to go back.

Despite herself, Maia couldn't help but feel some admiration for Ellen Ripley. After surviving 57 years in hypersleep and then being thrown to the proverbial wolves on her return, she had decided to go to the aid of a colony, that was going through the same nightmare that had started her predicament in the first place. That was a woman of great resilience and she hoped Ripley met her end on Acheron with some measure of dignity.

Deciding she needed to burn up some energy before she even tried to sleep, Maia walked into the ship's gymnasium. Hoping it would be empty, she discovered that it was not when she entered the room and found it half full with Marines, engaging in what seem to be a wrestling match among themselves. Immediately, she wished she had worn simple military issue, instead of the clinging black singlet and bicycle shorts she had emerged in, which left nothing to the imagination.

MacReady noticed her first.

It was quite difficult not to, after all, she was an impressive looking woman. Pretty soon, everyone in the room had noticed the arrival of the Captain and were trying not to stare to pointedly at her. As she approached, MacReady saw muscles that were worked almost as hard as any Marine present. She was a magnificent sculpture of blood and bone, moving with the subtle art of stealth and the agility of a hunter. One could barely hear her footsteps on the hard floor as she walked and he knew it had nothing to do with the type of shoes she wore. It had been an art well practiced.

Her eyes seem black and impassive as she came towards them and he suspected that she had not expected them to be here. However, if she had been their CO for any length of time, she would have known that this was a routine place for all of them. They often came here to let off steam, or just to work out in a group environment. She tired to look undaunted by their presence but MacReady was perceptive enough to know otherwise.

Maia paused just beyond the range of the small semi-circle they had formed, in time to see Quinn throwing Private Thomas Hawkins over his shoulder. The, lean black man fell down hard against the floor and Maia was familiar enough with the manoeuvre to know that it would hurt. She winced as she saw him rising from the floor slowly, amidst the cheering and back patting that was being generated for Quinn and limp away, rubbing his aching behind.

"He's never been thrown yet." A male voice said next to her.

Maia turned and saw Corporal MacReady standing alongside her. She wished she had taken some more time to speak to the Marines earlier on, because for a moment she had forgotten who he was. However, now that she looked at him face to face, Maia doubt that she would forget him that easily again. As he stood before her, Maia found herself annoyed that she had to look up slightly, to meet his eyes. Despite herself, she found herself thinking that he had the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen and his finely chiselled features added to his unspoken charm. Maia also knew instantly if there was anyone of them who might suspect that she wasn't who she said she was, it would most likely be MacReady. Instincts told her that his eyes saw a lot.

Although, she had to admit, they were very nice eyes.

"Really?" She asked getting back to what he had said initially. She looked at Quinn with a raised brow, who was absolutely revelling in his superiority amongst his comrades.

"Yeah." MacReady nodded in response. "All the others have tried, but no ones done it yet."

"What about you?" She looked at him with a hint of amusement in her eyes. Amusement he seemed to appreciate.

"I don't need to Sir," he said with a smile, "I've got nothing to prove to anyone by throwing him." And Maia didn't doubt that he did either. He seemed a laid back personality, who didn't cave into pressure often. It was also easy to see why Parker had chosen him for Senior Corporal, MacReady had an air of confidence in him that lent well to command.

Before Maia could respond to his statement, his Junior Corporal, Tim Addison entered into the conversation. "Don't let him fool you Sir, Mac threw the big son of a bitch when he first turned up here. He's the only one who's been able to do it."

"Thanks a lot Timothy." MacReady scowled. "Here I was trying to impress the Captain." He broke into a grin that got all three of them laughing.

"Why don't you try?" Marin asked, suddenly appearing from the crowd.

Maia could see that the Latino was clearly challenging her in front of all the Marines. She couldn't decided whether the challenge was because she was an officer or just another woman of higher rank. Either way, Maia could think of no way to refuse and for some reason felt it necessary that she assert herself in this group. If they did not see her as commander than the mission ahead would be very difficult indeed and Maia wanted to nip that particular problem right in the bud.

"Alright," she said boldly and took a step forward. The other Marines moved out of her way as she walked towards Quinn who standing upright, with a smug look on his face that showed her how confident he was in winning.

"I'll try not hurt you Sir." He grinned and Maia heard a snigger went through the crowd.

"Thank you," she said sweetly and glanced over her shoulder. Everyone was cheering Quinn on, she noticed. Everyone except MacReady. The senior Corporal was content to simply observe and Maia wondered what made him so different from the others. Turning back to Quinn, she found herself standing in front of the tall, hulk of a man. Maia moved herself into the assumed position, displaying less confidence than Quinn was, but waiting patiently for him to make the first move.

Quinn moved first, but Maia was much too quick for him. Darting out of his way, she swung around and faced him as he rushed towards her. With perfectly timed momentum, she threw him one forward flying kick, which caught him in the chin. She heard the slap of muscle against muscle as he staggered backwards one step. Moving quickly, she knew she had to deliver her next blow before he had time to recover. Swinging around, she delivered another flying kick, this time contacting on something that cracked loudly on impact. Maia returned to her original position just in time to see Quinn fall backwards again, this time hitting the floor with the back of his neck. The room felt silent as Quinn lay on the floor and the smear of red on his face caused her to hurry to his side.

"Damn!" Maia cursed softly as she inspected his injuries and found to her dismay, that she had broken his nose. Blood ran down in thick rivulets over his cheeks and towards his ears.

"Someone go get Foster!" MacReady ordered, as he knelt down along side of her. In the background, she heard Addison hurry out of the room to do just that.

"Is he alright?" Marin asked, leaning next to the unconscious Quinn, trying not to look as concerned as her eyes was betraying her to be.

"I didn't mean to hit him that hard." Maia declared, trying to defend herself over her actions. Such a mistake was almost unforgivable to her, what could she have been thinking of? "Damn I thought I was restraining myself, the last time I did this, I almost killed the poor bastard." She winced.

Despite her concern for her partner, Marin looked at her with admiration and remarked, "I hate to see what happens when you really get mad." Even though the situation was serious, a few of them laughed at that.

"You don't want to know." Maia said unhappily.

"He is going to hate himself in the morning." MacReady remarked.

"Tell me about it." Marin agreed, rolling her eyes.

Maia couldn't understand what they were referring to. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Are you kidding?" The young woman retorted, "he's going to wake up with a headache and a busted nose and then someone is going to have to tell him that he was knocked senseless by his Captain who is also a woman. I don't know which is worse."

CHAPTER THREE

I

Damn!

Maia cursed for the third time this morning. She was still unable to forget what she had done the night before in the gymnasium. How on Earth could she have been so careless! Wasn't it bad enough that she was staggering through the command of this Colonial Marine Squad like a rank amateur without bringing more suspicion on herself after her performance last night? Maia couldn't believe that she had almost blown her cover with a foolish display of force as she had when she fought with Quinn last night. The Smart gunner, as Foster later informed, had spent the entire night in Sick Bay, with a broken nose and a mild concussion.

Even though most of the Marines had credited her defeat of the huge man to luck, while others thought it was skill, she knew it was MacReady she had to worry about. The senior Corporal had remained silent about her fighting skills, but she could see the way in which he looked at her, that he was starting to get suspicious and Maia couldn't afford that just now. Deciding that all she could do was maintain a vigil on her conduct, Maia continued with her mission, although from time to time, she was still incensed by her faux pas.

The final preparations for the Sparta's departure from Earth were well underway. Maia found that she didn't need to supervise the Marines through this process as they knew their jobs well and were adept enough to handle themselves. Later tonight, they would deposit themselves into the hypersleep capsules that would keep them in stasis during the long trip to Fiorina 361. Fiorina 361 sat on the Rim and the trip there would not be short. Foster, who was in charge of the ship until they were revived, had told Maia that the trip would take almost five months and it was not something she looked forward to.

Despite her dislike of this type of travel, Maia watched the process of preparation by her Colonial Marine subordinates, with great fascination. During her past missions, the preparations for her travels off world were conducted by UNE techs prior to her departure. She had always travelled with private ships that required her to do the navigation and she never had to worry about ferrying fourteen other individuals as well. She wondered, as she made her way towards the Sparta's main hangar, what these Marines thought about her.

After last night, she knew they wouldn't put her in Devine's calibre at least, but did they consider her a commander the same way that they considered Parker? The enlisted in all armies had a universal dislike for officers and for an officer to gain the respect of those same individuals was not a task easily achieved. She had read the dossier on this squad prior to her arrival here. It had seemed that Devine had taken them to the point of disaster before the Army decided that it was best to place a senior officer in charge who had more experience that several simulated runs.

Maia was lost in all these thoughts when she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. They seemed to be walking at a slow pace until they hastened, and came along side her. Maia didn't even bother to look at who the stranger was, for the footsteps did not belong to a stranger. She knew who they belonged to immediately.

"Hello Sir." The voice said while still trying to catch up. From the soft, drawl which seemed almost whispery at time, Maia identified the voice easily and when she did was hardly surprised at who it was.

"Hello MacReady." She said with a smile. For reasons she couldn't understand, she liked him. Even though he posed the greatest danger to her cover, Maia felt comfortable around him and part of it had to do with the fact that he was so laid back and easy going. She always liked people like that, who weren't so wrapped up in themselves that they forgot there was a universe with other beings as well.

"You didn't even see me." He accused and even though he couldn't see it, invoked a smile from Maia. If there was any doubt that he was suspicious of her, none existed now.

"I remember voices well." Maia replied coolly, amused by his obvious scrutiny.

"So," he said walking up alongside her. "How was your first day of command?" He inquired pleasantly.

"I've been in command before," she answered, sidestepping his gentle probings. In her time, she had been interrogated by a number of people. Some employed tactics of psychological intimidation while others used brute savagery to get what they wanted. She had been interrogated by people who masters of their craft, making the business of forcibly extracting information from others, into an art. If Corporal MacReady was going to make her talk, then he would have to do a damn sight better than this.

"Where Sir?" He asked innocently, before adding. "If you don't mind me asking that is."

Maia turned to him and met his eyes, with a hint of amusement in her eyes. He looked into hers with equal levity and for a moment, Maia found herself feeling sorry that he was a part of her mission. She found him, rather attractive. It was a feeling that both of them shared, as they stared at each other for a few seconds, with their eyes fixed upon each other, trying to draw one another out.

"Don't you trust my qualifications, Corporal?" She asked, making certain that her tone emphasized his rank to get her point across.

Suddenly his face took on a sober expression that seemed extremely serious and Maia was taken back by the sudden change of mood in the conversation. "Captain," he said firmly, "with all due respect to your rank and your position as my commanding officer, I would like to speak freely."

Intrigued by the sudden formality in his manner, Maia could only nod in response. "Go ahead."

"As far as I am concerned you are my Captain and you won't have any problems with me on that matter. But the truth is, I would like to know that I am dealing with a professional soldier who has seen combat in the past, not some half assed desk jockey whose entire combat experience has been no more than a series of simulations." He looked at her critically wondering how she would take his speech. For his sake, MacReady hoped she could handle being questioned by him.

Maia stared at him for a few seconds, trying to decide one of two things; had she underestimated MacReady's interrogation skills or was he genuinely concerned about her abilities as his commanding officer? For she could understand his desire to know if she was. Judging from his past history with Devine, Maia didn't begrudge him for wanting to know. A good soldier knew when to follow orders and when not to, most of the time it depended on the officer he served. If that officer was an incompetent who did not know his job, then being prepared for the breakdown of command was very important. In the front lines, such knowledge was the fine line between life and death.

"I refuse to discuss my military career with you." She declared after a moment, "But," she sighed, meeting his blue eyes. "I have seen plenty of combat and I'm still here. Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah it does," MacReady answered. "I'm sorry to be so forward Sir, but sometimes, it is really necessary for us to know these things."

"Understood," she nodded in comprehension. "Although I have to admit, I'm surprised that this question didn't come from Sergeant Parker."

MacReady smiled, pleased that the tension between them was easing away. For some reason, he didn't like the idea of being on opposites corners of Captain Sanjay and none of them had anything to do with military protocol. "Well, the Sarge is a career man, he's been weaned of his bad habits already." He laughed.

"Don't worry," she remarked as they turned down a different corridor and looked at him. "I'm sure you'll grow out of it."

As they continued towards the main hangar, MacReady knew that there was something inside of him that refused to believe that she was army. Even though she wore authority very well and he didn't doubt for a second that she had seen combat duty, there was something about her that didn't convince him that she was military. He had been lucky a moment ago, when he had asked her about her past career. MacReady had come very close to bringing to light his suspicions about her into the open. Only his quick response had saved his true intentions from coming to her attention. He knew that she was watching him like a hawk when he had asked his question and MacReady couldn't fathom where the spark of inspiration had come from when he told her that he was simply concerned about her combat experience.

Next time, he would know better. Whatever she had been in the past, MacReady knew one thing with absolute certainty, she had been extremely good at it. He had to be careful to avoid arousing her suspicions the next time.

If there was a next time.

II

When the arrived into the main hangar, Maia and MacReady found the area to be a hive of activity. The roar of the Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) could be heard over the chattering of Marines at work. Maia could hear the distinct voice of Sergeant Parker booming through the air, as the small, armoured carrier rumbled forward in the direction of the dropship. Still amongst all this noise, was Private Richard Daley moving about in the power loader, an incredibly dense exoskeleton forklift that allowed the operator to climb inside and move heavy objects with relative ease. Daley, a short, stout man, with a receding hairline and dull grey eyes, who looked rather like a whiner, seemed very formidable in the power loader as he moved huge, currently unarmed incendiary missiles in their protective casings, towards the cargo hold of the dropship.

Everyone had an individual task which they were alone responsible for and as Maia watched them in fascination, she had to admit that this squad of Colonial Marines were called the best for a reason. As she silently observed their preparations, she could see that the title was not undeserved.

"I'm impressed." She mused, not intending MacReady to hear it, but unfortunately he did.

"We know our jobs Sir," MacReady answered, "and we know how to do things in a rush." With that, he excused himself and went to seek out Sergeant Parker, whom he could hear even though he couldn't see.

As Maia watched him disappeared into the group, she didn't doubt him one bit. Suddenly from the corner of her eye, she saw Marin and Quinn working by the dropship. The two Smart gunners were loading ammo packs into the dropship's cargo hold and Maia winced as she saw Quinn working with a strip of surgical tape placed neatly across his nose. His eyes were darkened and bruised, indicating that their little brawl last night had not been at all good for him.

Seeing him made Maia wince again.

*************

"Mac," Parker asked once MacReady had found him, supervising the weapons loading from the armoury into the APC.

"Yeah Sarge?" MacReady asked, noticing that the Sarge had lowered his voice and usually didn't call him Mac unless he wanted to discuss something personal in nature.

"What the fuck happened to Quinn?" He demanded. "Did you two get into a fight again?" Parker looked at him critically. MacReady and Quinn had come through Marine training at the same time, and Parker knew from the first, that a confrontation between the two was inevitable. While Quinn was brash, loud and totally arrogant, MacReady was calm, cool under pressure and he possessed a wisdom that made the others look up to him. Quinn desired to head the pecking order of the Marine hierarchy while MacReady only wanted to be left alone. However, MacReady was a natural leader and everyone knew it, especially Quinn. When the Smart gunner and MacReady finally come to blows, it was MacReady who walked out of it unscathed and Quinn who had a lesson in humility. Since that day, Quinn was forced to admit that MacReady was a leader and surprisingly enough, he had found that he preferred to follow. An uneasy friendship was formed from then on, with Quinn finding that the Corporal was one of the few people who earned his respect.

"It wasn't me that did it Sarge," MacReady remarked quickly in defence. "It was Captain Sanjay."

Parker looked at him astonished. "Get the fuck out of here!" He exclaimed, before taking a look in the direction of Captain Sanjay who was at this moment, engage in a conversation with Lieutenant Devine on the other side of the hangar. He looked at the tall, lithe woman who was very much smaller than Quinn and found himself still unable to believe what his corporal had just told him. "Quinn's twice her size!" He declared.

"Swear to god," MacReady insisted, finding himself as equally amused by Sergeant Parker's reaction as the man was over Quinn's defeat. "She took him down in two moves, in front of everybody. Knocked him out cold, Quinn had to be carried out of the gym."

"Fuck." Parker whistled, finally accepting the truth. "Maybe she isn't an asshole with rank, after all." He remarked eloquently, still wearing a smile of disbelief on his face however.

MacReady rose a brow at that and thought to himself, that somehow he doubt that was the very least of it.

****************

Private Quinn was still in a state of shock.

He was beaten, not only by an officer, but a woman! It was hard for him to fathom, which was the worse of the evils but he could not. Even worse than all of the above, she had done so in two moves! Quinn had woken up in Sick Bay this morning, sporting one killer headache and a perfect nose that was no longer perfect because it had been broken! When Foster had told him how long he had been out, Quinn could hardly believe. In fact, for a while, he refused to believe it until Marin came to visit him and told him that it was the truth. If there was one person that Quinn could count on to tell her the truth, it was Marin and knowing did not make it easier.

He wasn't sexist.

Despite her sex, Private Tina Marin had been one of the best soldiers he had ever worked with and she was his best friend. His long friendship with Marin had taught him that women could be capable of anything if they simply set their mind to it. Including outclassing a man from time to time. Most of Quinn's chagrin came from the fact that he had been defeated by an officer and a woman twice smaller than him because of his over confidence. He had been an arrogant bastard, thinking that because he had been undefeated for so long, that such a state of affairs could not change. If there had been one thing that the Sarge had been determined for them to learn, was not to get too cocky. He had drummed into their heads, that no matter how good one thought one was, there was always someone out there who could tear your fucking balls off.

And usually did.

It had never occurred to Quinn that he could have been defeated by an officer, a Captain no less. He never thought she could beat it. But beat him she did and rather severely at that. In front of his comrades and worse of all in front of Marin. In doing so, she had gained the admiration of Marin who had been able to talk of anything else all morning, except the superiority of Captain Sanjay's fighting skill in comparison to some of the officers they had seen in the past.

And what hurt the most, was his certainty that his status had somehow been lowered in Marin's eyes. He knew that he was being stupid, that Marin wasn't so shallow and she would always be his friend who would remain at his side, but Quinn's feelings regarding Marin went deeper than that. He couldn't deny that he didn't feel a slight romantic attachment towards Marin, who wouldn't? Tina Marin, in his opinion, was one of the most attractive women he had ever met and as a Marine, in his time, he had met a few. However, Quinn was determined not to take their relationship any further than where it was already, after all, why ruin a perfectly good friendship by taking it into uncharted territory.

"Hey!" Marin's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts. Quinn collected himself quickly and turned his attention towards handing her another crate. Marin was standing on the cargo hold platform, waiting impatiently for him to hand her another crate of equipment for their weapons, which she was stacking neatly into a pile.

"Sorry." He mumbled feebly as he handed her the wooden box.

"You're still not thinking about last night, are you?" She demanded once she had put the box in its proper position and turned to him once again.

"No." He replied a little too quickly and rather defensively at that.

"Come on man," Marin sighed with exasperation. She had tried to convince him all morning that it was no shame to lose out to superior forces. Now as she thought about it, she scolded herself for being so insensitive to his bruised ego, by talking about the Captain in such tones of admiration. "It's no big deal, she was faster and by the looks of it, more experienced. It's not your fault, Quinn. It just happens."

Marin's feelings for Private Quinn would have surprised him if he had known them. Like him, she felt a romantic attraction to him as well, and like him, she was reluctant to see that relationship change. However, moments like this made her wish otherwise, because he clearly needed someone who cared about him intimately to make him feel better.

"Sure," he grunted, "taken out like a fucking pussy."

Marin rolled her eyes in exasperation once again, taking care to make sure that he didn't infuriate her any more than he was currently doing. "You were caught unguarded okay," she persisted, giving it one last try. "It's not going to happen again." However, judging from the expression on Quinn's face, she knew she had not succeeded and thus decided that she would stop trying. When he was like this, it was best just to leave him alone.

III

By the late afternoon, the preparations were made finally completed.

The Marines had finished loading the dropship and the APC for the coming mission, while Foster had completed the preparations for their journey in the cryotube. The artificial life form had also readied the Sparta for its trip to Fiorina and made certain that the ship had all the supplies it need to make such an extended journey. As evening approached, the entire complement of the Sparta sat down to their last meal at the mess hall after which they proceeded to the showers where they would prepare themselves for cryogenic travel.

Maia stepped into the shower cubicle inside the larger bathing facilities of the Sparta. She knew she could have easily gone to her own quarters, but this was more convenient. The bathing facilities were for both genders and laid out the way shower facilities were, at public swimming pools. Each cubicle had three porcelain walls and a door. While the breadth of the cubicle was barely a meter across, the length was deep enough so that a bather could step out from under the shower into an area where they could towel themselves before emerging. The height however, allowed the bather to see one another from the neck up and thus allowed for conversations to be carried out.

As Maia let the water run over her skin, she could hear the voices of the Marines through the loud rushing of water and steam. She saw MacReady in the next cubicle, soaping his neck and found that he kept his eyes on the wall in front of him, instead of looking at her directly. Maia guessed it was the fact that behind their cubicles, they were naked. She wondered how the Marines could remain so detach in this environment, seeing each other in the barest extreme and not being affected by any of it. However, she herself had been in this situation before and knew that it came from utter professionalism. Turning away her eyes, she told herself to exercise some of it herself.

"God I wish there was some other way to travel? " Addison grumbled from his cubicle. "Being in hypersleep is like being goddamned dead! How do we know that when we get into the freezers we're going to wake up again?"

"Great," MacReady sighed, looking up at the Com tech momentarily, before returning his attention to scrubbing the grease of his hands, with his bar of soap. "Spread paranoia, why don't you?"

"You can always stay awake." Maia spoke up, and smiled faintly before adding. "Keep Foster company."

"No thanks," Addison winced and then remarked, "I don't intent on getting too user friendly with computers. Besides, no matter how you look at it, either way its still like being dead."

"Foster's not that bad." Yates spoke up in the defence of the android who was not present at the time. Yates often worked in close proximity with Foster and she always found his innocence and shy personality not that different from her own. "He's really nice. He's always polite and he's very helpful."

"You think everyone is nice," Marin spoke up above the suds covering her neck.

"And what is wrong with that?" Yates countered defensively. She hated it when people thought she came off too nice. What was wrong with being nice to people? "I just don't to like to judge people until I get to know them. After all, everyone deserves a chance."

"You're going to get yourself killed that's what." Quinn, who stood taller than all of them, declared from his own cubicle. "That's no way for a Marine to be. If you get soft, you can get yourself killed and take a few of us with you."

"Lay off." Private David O'Neill snapped, sounding almost angry. O'Neill was one of the veterans in the group, falling into prestige group that included MacReady, Quinn, Private Alicia Hall and himself. They were the oldest surviving members of the initial Marine squad that later saw the arrival of the others. He almost matched Quinn in height with his Celtic stature of red hair and bright green eyes. From the day that Catherine Yates had joined the squad, O'Neill had declared himself her self appointed protector. Yates reminded O'Neill of a sister he once had and thus their relationship had become almost a kinship.

"To the rescue!" Addison grinned. "The Irishman strikes again." He winked mischievously at Yates who had started to blush, even with the steam rising around her. She seemed so much like a high school teenager and sometimes, looked very much out of place amongst her other Marine comrades.

MacReady saw a troubled expression on the Captain's face and guessed quickly what was bothering her. "She's good at what she does Sir," he whispered softly at Maia. He could understand the concern in her face, because he too, had felt similar doubts when Yates had first joined the squad. However, the young woman had proven herself on several occasions and the doubt he felt had been eroded away through time.

"I'm concerned MacReady," she answered evenly, "not judgemental. I try not to do that, until I've actually worked with the person in question. But thank you for the tip." And she was grateful at MacReady's intervention, taking it in the spirit in which it had been given. Yates' ability did seem questionable, but it took all kinds to run the world and she would make any opinions until she had seen the young woman's talents first.

*************

The cryotube chamber was simply an enormous room with cryotubes running along the wall in a neat row. The room was a dispensary white in colour and felt more like a section of a hospital, with complex equipment standing up against another non descript wall. The equipment consisted of the actual cryogenics modules that would take its occupants into the comfort of stasis, while the rest of the machinery were mainly monitoring devices that would allow Foster to monitor their vital signs during the journey. Most of these were for the purpose of safety, for if any deviation was noticed, Foster had instructions to act immediately. However, such accidents were almost non-existent these days and were merely there as precautionary measures.

Maia entered the room with the rest of the Marines, remembering how much she detested hypersleep. She knew it was a necessary evil in space travel, but she hated the fact that for a few months, the course of her life would be dictated by the whims of a cold, heartless machine that would take control away from her. The thought that her life processed would be controlled by a series of mechanical devices containing, diodes, electrodes and transistors, was not something she looked forward to. The air inside the room was cold, and wearing nothing but thin cotton briefs and a singlet did not help much to improve the situation. The men, on the other hand, wore only boxer shorts, while the women added a singlet to their wardrobe, the cold didn't seem to affect them and Maia guessed they were used to it.

Foster was at his station by the console panel that would initiate the cryogenic process once they were nestled in the tubes. Taking a moment to speak to him before she went under, the Captain sauntered towards him to give him such last minute instructions before she would have to enter her cryotube.

"Foster," she said softly, below the earshot of the others. "I would like you to continue my investigations while I'm in cryosleep."

"Of course." He said earnestly, still having trouble meeting her eyes. "What are your instructions?"

"Find any available information you can on the Nostromo, particularly the disciplinary measure that was taken against Officer Ripley. Also use your initiative, find anything relevant to what we've been after."

Foster nodded in understanding, tucking information away for future reference. "I'll do what I can for you Captain."

"Thanks." She smiled before walking back towards the Marines, who were starting to climb into their individual capsules. She quickly found the one destined for her and found that it stood at the very front of the row. As she walked towards it, she pulled her singlet down over her exposed belly, conscious that she was being watched by them. Especially MacReady.

MacReady with his powerful blue eyes that saw a lot.

Climbing into her capsule at last, she looked at the others and found that they were already in their own capsules and that she was the last one in. Being the Captain, they were waiting for her to give the final word that would hasten the closure of the lids on the pods. Maia sighed, trying to stifle the discomfort she felt at being in these glass coffins, before telling herself to get on with it. Turning to Foster, she lay back down on the soft, mattress within the capsule, before speaking.

"Alright Foster, pack us in."

As she closed her eyes, she heard the glass lids slide to a close and allowed herself to slip quickly into the induced abyss of her mind.

CHAPTER FOUR

I

Hypersleep was many things to many people.

To some, it was the ultimate fountain of youth. Inside the tube, no one grew old or sick, withered or decayed and memory would retain eternal clarity. Many with terminal illness which left the medical community powerless to combat, often chose to enter hypersleep for however long it took for a remedy to be found for their conditions. Some remained in stasis for a few years, others remained for decades and some who were adamant to live at all costs, despite the ramifications that came with long passages of time, chose to remain there for centuries.

And then there were those who likened hypersleep to a kind of waking death. Those of which who dreaded to close their eyes and leave their life processes to be maintained by a machine. To them, the notion of being frozen in time and space was too much like being a fly trapped in the amber of a sleep from which they couldn't awaken. They remained trapped in their own subconsciousness and prayed to awaken into reality. Because even in their slumber, they could not forget that they were alive, nor could they stop dreaming and for those who had nightmares hidden in their minds, such a torture was unimaginable.

On the subjects of hypersleep, Maia was in total agreement with those who detested the devices. She fluttered her eyelids open and let out a sigh of relief even though she was still half asleep. Seeing those luminescent white lights stinging her eyes was akin to waking up in heaven, giving her another surge of assurance that she had made it through once again, alive. Her vision was the first thing to return, the next was her hearing. Sound filled her ears like booming noises until they were quickly adjusted to handle it once again. She could hear the lids of other cryotubes sliding open, one at a time and following that, the breathing of her companions.

The Marines were more accustomed to travelling by hypersleep than she was, for they revived quickly once their capsules had been opened to release them. Maia herself, still felt very much in a state of suspension. Her body felt like it was entirely numb and for a few seconds she had to lie there while she became accustomed to using it once again.

"Move it people!" Parker's loud voice tore through the air. If anything woke her up, that did. His loud booming voice jolted her out of her dazed state and brought her back to reality with a vengeance. The sergeant was first out of his capsule and he began walking up and down the row of tubes, urging the others to do the same, in his usual commanding manner.

"Jesus Christ!" Maia heard Addison grumbling. The sound of the sergeants loud voice in his ears was like an explosion and it felt like his ear drums were screaming over load. This was more than he could handle at this point of the day. "Sarge!" He yelled in protest, "have a heart!"

Parker paused at the Junior Corporals capsule and roared once more, louder than ever just for Addison's benefit, with a wide smile on his face at the same time. "Move it! Move it! This ain't no whore house where you've paid your two bits, this is the Army!" He remained long enough to hear another groan from the younger man before continuing on with a satisfied grin on his face.

They moved like bears that had just emerged from winter hibernation, slowly and somewhat gingerly, allowing their slackened body functions to increase in tempo and rhythm as they moved about. Maia herself, eased out of her tube and began shaking out her limbs, trying to increase the heart rate in her body that had been slowed down with the cryogenic processes. She looked around and saw that her subordinates were doing pretty much the same especially with Parker shouting at them to do so.

Maia looked around at her comrades when suddenly she saw Devine standing against his cryotube looking slightly off colour. The Marines were filing out of the room, oblivious to his plight and she decided that she had better go see what was wrong or else no one would. Walking towards him, she noticed he was suffering from a text book case of hypersleep sickness. Hypersleep sickness usually occurred when the person in question was unaccustomed to lengthy periods in the cryotubes.

Maia wondered what military genius would put this kid, and that was exactly what Devine was, despite his rank and attitude, in charge of one of the toughest Colonial Marine squads in the corp? This proved that his field experience was rudimentary at best, which explained why he had almost gotten himself and his team killed in earlier missions.

"Devine." Maia spoke up and the young man immediately jumped into attention, although his reflexes were slow and he seemed grey with nausea.

"Sir!" He declared, trying to keep himself at attention although she could see the strain was getting to him.

"At ease, Lieutenant." She said gently, knowing how humiliated he must already be feeling. Relief flooded into his eyes as he stood down from his erect posture. "Get Foster to give you something to clear your stomach and next time, take aspirin before you climb into the tube. It's an old wives tale that works well."

Devine met her eyes with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. It was likely that he had been seeing her all this time, not as a commanding officer, but as an adversary that had stolen his first command. It had never occurred to him that the feeling wasn't mutual. "I'll do that Sir," he said straightening up with a new resolve and a new respect for her in his voice.

"Dismissed," Maia said simply, with a smile of encouragement on her face as she walked past him towards the showers.

************

Maia was still not used to the way these Marines jumped to attention each time she came into the room. After she had showered and gotten dressed, she emerged into the mess hall to join the others in their first meal together. Prior to leaving Gateway, Maia had been having her meals in her quarters because she had too much to do to waste her time, waiting for appropriate meal times in the day. However, now as she sat down at the head of the long table, she found it to be alive with the chatter. Other than standing at attention when she arrived, they didn't react to her arrival at hall and continued with their chatter.

The food on her tray tasted delicious in her mouth even though she was used to much better. Marines on the Sparta were fed from food dispensers, with meals prepared completely by computer. Still, she supposed, that after five months in hypersleep, any food would taste like a gourmet meal. As she sat down to her meal, she realised that there was much about her Colonial Marine crew she did not notice initially, especially in the way in which they dressed.

While she was wearing a simple, khaki coloured flight suit that came apart into a jacket and pants, the uniform worn by the others was varied by the individual accessories. Marin wore a red bandanna around her forehead while Quinn seemed comfortable in a floppy hat. Devine was wearing fatigues with a military shirt, which was the proper thing for a Marine to be wearing she supposed. Pilots Hall and Daley were wearing full, army flight suits while the rest preferred fatigues and T-shirts.

"Hey Sarge!" Addison called out for the Sergeant from one end of the table to the other. "What's the mission?"

Maia looked up at this, remembering that Parker and Devine had been briefed by her prior to their departure from Gateway Station. It was standard procedure to keep the location of one's mission quiet until after they had emerged from hypersleep. However, now that they were at their destination, there was no harm in discussing it briefly, before she actually gathered them around for an official debriefing. At the moment, they didn't even what they were doing, let alone why.

"It's just a recon and surveillance." Parker informed the com tech.

"A milk run!" He declared and received a round of agreement from the rest of his comrades. "No problem, " he said confidently, "we'll pack this baby away and get the hell back home before our footprints dry out."

The only ones who weren't cheering, Maia noticed, were Devine, Parker and MacReady. It was hardly a surprise that Devine would remain sedate, after all, he was an officer and officers didn't get too friendly with the grunts. That kind of thinking thoroughly appalled her, but she said nothing. Parker and MacReady weren't that easy to read. She expected that they were the most seasoned of the soldiers present, and seasoned veterans knew one thing; there was no such thing as a milk run because thinking that way could get a person killed.

Silently, she heartedly agreed.

II

An hour later, Maia found herself in the communications centre with Foster once again. During her time in hypersleep, the android had been fastidiously involved in the task she had set him before they had left Gateway Station. It took five long months for them to arrive here and even though artificial life forms were not programmed to get bored, it could not be said that it didn't happened. Their mental safe guards protected them from suffering from the isolation, but the boredom was still very real and Foster was pleased to immerse himself in some meaningful work.

She sat down at the console, taking in quiet contemplation, the information that Foster had uncovered about the Nostromo and its ill fated voyage. Much of what the android told her initially regarding the flight recorder's information, was data she already knew, but Maia sensed that he was trying to refresh her memory for something more.

"As you know," he began, with a trace of excitement at his discovery she noticed. "The flight recorder stated that the Nostromo was set for self destruct after they had stopped at Acheron to answer the distress call."

"Yes." Maia nodded. "It was a signal of unknown origin, they had to investigate." She wondered what Foster was getting at.

"Well according to Ripley, the last survivor," Foster replied, "the Company knew about the signal before they even shipped out. The Nostromo's Science Officer was replaced a few days before they were to leave for the Rim, and the person who took his place, Ash? Captain, he was a synthetic. Hyperdine Systems, an A2 model."

"My god." Maia exclaimed softly, starting to understand the reason for the Company's attempts to hide the truth. "They must have wanted the alien from the very beginning. They knew that the Nostromo would encounter the signal and would be forced to investigate and the Science Officer would have made certain that they brought the alien back on to the ship." She looked up at Foster and asked further, "how did you find out about this?"

"This time, I didn't look at Ripley's employment records," he answered proudly, "I accessed her actual report at the hearing after she was revived from hypersleep in the Narcissus. Since it was kept in an entirely different system, I had no trouble pulling the file up. I think the Company must have tucked it away and forgotten all about it. I believe they thought that no one would ever go looking for it. I also found out Captain," he continued, "that in her report, it seemed that Science Officer Ash was given a special order that declared that the crew to be expendable."

"Of course," Maia replied, unsurprised by that particular information. "The Company wanted the alien more than a bunch of humans. But I can't understand how the synthetic person could allow them to be killed."

"Ash was an older model synthetic," Foster offered, "behavioural inhibitors that prevent us from harming humans did not come into effect until forty years ago and that was way after the time of the Nostromo."

"I see." She answered, fascinated by this horrible events. "What else did you find out?"

"In the report, Ripley stated that the alien killed all of her crew. Unfortunately, anything regarding how the creature actually came on board has been deleted. The files are so old that they tend to deteriorate sometimes, all I could get about the alien itself, was the fact that it grew very fast once it entered the Nostromo. It had several moultings and each time, the change made it more ferocious. Three of her team mates were left when they had decided to abandon the ship but it was Ripley alone that made it to the life pod."

"And no one believed her story when she came out of it." Maia sighed, sympathising slightly with the long dead Ripley. "What must the world have been to her when she woke up. 57 years in the future, with a story so fantastic no one would believe it and crew mates dead because of some greedy Company man's desire for an alien creature. All her friends and family would have been gone and she remaining, to become archaic that should have died with the rest of her time." Suddenly, a thought came to mind and she turned to Foster, "do we have a picture of Ripley on file?"

"Yes," Foster attacked the keyboard once again. "We should have."

A moment later, a face appeared on the screen in front of them. The picture accompanied an employment record and Maia saw the face of Ellen Ripley for the first time. It was the face of a woman bearing an elegant face, with high sweeping cheek bones and eyes that burned with emerald green spirit. Her red hair seemed to match those eyes and Maia saw a face of firm lines and a set jaw. It was the type of face that Maia knew well enough.

The face of a survivor.

Something inside Maia Sanjay refused to believe this woman was a psychiatric problem as her Company evaluation had labelled her. In that face, Maia saw someone who had been through much and had endured. It was someone she would have like to have known. But the woman on the screen had died thirty five years ago and all Maia could do for her now, was to see that justice was done. For Ripley alone, Maia was willing to bring down the entire Weyland Yutani Corporation.

"Alright," Maia said after a moment, once her thoughts had come away from Ellen Ripley. "Did you find out all the information regarding the Fiorina prison installation?" She asked, looking at him.

"I did." He nodded before adding. "But it was not easy to come by. Originally, it was a prison for double Y chromosome offenders with life sentences. A refinery was built and the prisoners were set to work. However, later on, the prison was taken over by the Company and then called the Weyland Yutani Work Correctional Facility Fury 161. The prisoners were allowed to remain to work, instead of being transported to other prisons." He paused for a few seconds, after giving this standard report on the prison's history before moving on to the information she wanted to hear.

"Of all those prisoners, only one was still alive when the facility was closed. This we know, from the recent military investigations into the matter. Morse was his name and after the closure of the prison, he was sent to Andovar Prison in Decca 5. Now the people the military investigators interviewed, recalled Morse and said that after he arrived in Andovar, he had retreated almost completely into religion. Prison psychiatrists reported that he had come up with some story about a dragon that came down from an the sky and killed all the others. The only coherent thing they managed to get out of him, was the fact that shortly before the dragon came, an EEV crashed on the planet with one survivor. The EEV has been confirmed to be that belonging to the Sulloco."

"Its too much of a coincidence." Maia declared. "I don't think it would be too great a leap if we connect the dragon to the EEV. It sounded like Morse encountered one of the aliens and that it came down with the EEV."

"But that does not make sense." Foster spoke up. "All data on the creature shows that it was highly dangerous. How could a survivor have remained alive long enough with the alien in the same confine space for such a period of time?"

That was a good question and one that Maia couldn't answer. "I don't know. But for some reason, the Company has been keeping the planet under surveillance since its closure and I don't understand why that would be if it had been killed. The alien came from LV427, there was only one of them on Fiorina which makes reproduction impossible or if not, highly improbable. Unless they got another one from LV427, which is also impossible since it was devastated by nuclear holocaust. "

"I do not have any answers," Foster answered honestly, looking displeased that he was unable to offer her any sort of theory.

"It's alright," she sighed, "I guess the only way we are going to find out is to land on Fiorina." Maia was unhappy at the state of affairs regarding this whole mission although she kept her fears silent. "The Company's station would surely know we are here by now. Open a dialogue with them and tell them that I will be contacting them regarding our mission here shortly."

"Yes Sir," he nodded. "Captain, I doubt their reception is going to be welcoming."

"That," Maia remarked looking at him as she got up to leave, "I expected."

*************

The time finally arrived for her to debrief her team on the mission ahead. As Maia stood in a quiet corner of the hangar, where the Marines were loosely congregated around a stack of crates, patiently awaiting for her to address them. With the exception of Foster, all of them were present and seemed curious to the nature of their coming mission. She took a deep breath, steadying herself and trying to quickly decided how much she would tell them. Finally, she decided that she should stop wasting time and tell them whatever they wanted to know, within reason of course.

"Okay Marines," she began, looking them all over and noticing that they were doing the same to her. Even Parker was staring at her with interest, wondering how she would conduct herself. "From the top. Two weeks before we left Gateway Station, a ship called the Sulloco was found by a salvage team. Thirty five years ago, the Sulloco disappeared after a disastrous mission to Acheron. Only four people survived and for reasons unknown, they were jettisoned in an EEV towards Fiorina 361. It is our job to go onto the surface and investigate."

"Excuse me Sir," Parker spoke up. "I thought that this was a search and recon, not a rescue mission. It's been thirty five years, the prospect of survivors is a shot in the dark."

"True." Maia answered realising that she hadn't a choice. She had to tell them more, as much as she was allowed to that is. Already, the others were looking at her suspiciously and they could tell that there was more to this story than met the eye. "But we are not looking for survivors. Marines, " she said with renewed resolve, "Acheron was destroyed because of an alien species which overwhelmed an entire colony. Ten of the fourteen people that were sent on the Sulloco was also killed, now when the EEV on landed on Fiorina, one of these aliens came with the survivors. At the time, Fiorina was a prison and the entire population of that prison colony including the survivors of the Sulloco, except for one, were also killed. The alien was killed on Fiorina but for some reason, the Company has been keeping the planet under close surveillance since then. It is our mission to find out why."

There was a moment of silence before the questions started coming. Typically, the first one came from MacReady. "These aliens, could there be more on the planet?" He asked.

"It's a possibility, but highly unlikely. " Maia answered, although the thought was prevalent in her mind too. "The survivor of Fiorina said there was only one alien and where they were found on Acheron was completely devastated by nuclear holocaust. But this is an unknown species and the facts around Fiorina have been carefully guarded Company secret, so nothing I say to you is a certainty."

"I hate tangling with the Company." This came from Private Alicia Hall, an ash blond woman with seasoned features and a perennial look of scepticism in her hazel coloured eyes. "Sir, with all due respect, they could be hiding anything down there and they don't like anyone who isn't Company messing with their business."

"I know." Maia replied agreeing with Hall's reluctance. "However, but it is still our job to find out what that is and report back to command."

"Ooh I hope its a bug hunt!" Marin declared with a grin. "I need the target practice." Her statement caused a ripple of laughter through the group, although Maia didn't share the joke. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing about their mission that was the source of amusement, even if there weren't any aliens to be encountered.

"Listen you assholes!" Maia shouted and immediately caught all their attentions. "This is no fucking milk run! A squad of Marines have already been killed because of this alien, probably because they were a bunch of arrogant jerk offs too! I don't like going into a potential combat situation with an outfit who think they're exempt from being killed. The Company is involved here, so if they even feel we're getting close to the truth, they're liable to try and erase us from existence! Now I want you alert and I want you to understand that a lot of people have already died trying to find out the truth and no offence, I don't intend to be the next one of those casualties."

With that, she dismissed them before her anger made her say anything else she might regret. She just hoped that for all their sakes, when the time for the acid test came, they lived up to their confident bravado. If not, they were all going to be very dead. ***************

He made certain that all his fellow marines had gone ahead to review their mission tapes, when MacReady decided to wait. He stood watching the door leading out of the hangar, knowing the Captain was the last one inside its confines. MacReady was tempted to go in and seek her out, but somehow, he felt it more prudent if he were to simply wait until she emerged. Less than a minute later, Captain Sanjay walked through the doorway, with her hands dug deep into her pockets. She wore a trouble expression on her face and he wondered if she was still bothered by the display from Marin, earlier on in the briefing.

He couldn't blame her for being upset of course, he himself did not like to go into a mission thinking that god and luck would be substitutes for discipline and alertness. At this moment, MacReady didn't doubt that Marin was spending her time in front of Sergeant Parker, getting a thorough dressing down on the errors of shooting one's mouth off in front of a commanding officer, not to mention being too over-confident for her own good.

As Captain Sanjay strode past him, MacReady quickly jumped into action and hurried to catch up with her. Before he could say anything, she spoke up first. "What can I do for you Corporal?"

"I hate it when you do that." He muttered under his breath and noticed that she was smiling in amusement.

"I'm sure," she answered casually, "now, what do you want?"

"Its the mission sir," he replied honestly and it was the truth. The nature of their mission was bothering him, mainly because of the company's involvement. For some reason, MacReady didn't see her as his superior officer, mainly because she didn't act like one but also because he noticed, she didn't patronize them like most commanding officers. And there seemed to be some sort of unspoken game between them as each tried to extract as much information from one another without letting each other know. It was a game MacReady found he enjoyed very much, especially when his opponent was so engaging.

"What about it?" Maia asked, not unsurprised by the question. Of all of the Marines, she had guessed that he would be the one to ask the difficult questions. Devine was too West Point to do so, while Parker was too seasoned to question orders which MacReady wasn't experienced enough to learn yet.

"I don't know," he said uneasily. "Something about what you've said makes me feel nervous. I'm not usually like that, so my gut is telling something's up." He looked into her eyes, wondering if he would be trusted with the truth by her, or would she give him an official lie.

"Your gut is right." Maia responded with a sigh. In her eyes, MacReady could see sincerity and he rested easy. "Corporal," she took a deep breath. "I'm not going to lie to you or tell you that I know what's going on, because I don't. I have some idea about what's happening on Fiorina, but not all and when I find out, believe you'll be the first one to know. As it is, what I've uncovered so far is fucking unbelievable."

And somehow, he didn't disbelieve her.

CHAPTER FIVE

I

As Maia stood staring through the pexiglass window of the observation deck, she marvelled at the beauty of space. Space never changed, she decided. It remained indifferent to the fates of the objects that lived within it, who chose to travel through it and even to those, who presumed to own it. Just ahead, seeming like it was only a stone's throw away instead of a chasm, was the Weyland Yutani space station, suspended above the skies of the iridescent blue world known to all as Fiorina. From here, thousands of miles above its surface, it look harmless enough.

She smiled thinking that aspect of her job never seemed to differ. They always looked harmless from this height. Maia remembered thinking the same thing when she had first become an operative, in the career she had nursed like a mother who nursed a beloved child. The first time she had ever left Earth to visit another world had been shortly after her traineeship in the security division of the UNE had concluded and she had finally been elevated to the position of combat operative. The planet was called Shadow World mainly because it was home to colonists who were unable to forge an existence together and whose petty squabbling had soon escalated into bloody civil war.

At Shadow World, she had lost her first partner, a long time UNE veteran named Riley. Even though he was the first of many, his was the death she felt most profoundly. Years later, when she herself had become a battle hardened veteran herself, she had been able to shield herself from the pain that came with losing a partner. However, the first was the hardest. Riley had not only been her partner, but for a time he had been her lover. Maia knew why Riley's name had emerged from amongst all the others. It was because it was the first time she had ever had to deal with the company and he had died as a result of their treachery. She often wondered, late at night, whether she could have been able to save him. And late at night, she wondered if the company exec whose actions killed Riley was also awake. However, she knew better.

This mission was also starting to smell just as bad.

She'd been in the business to know the signs and the signs were everywhere. There was so much she didn't know, so much that she needed to understand if she were to lead this team of Marines into the depths of Fiorina. It wasn't just the Company's involvement, the Company was becoming secondary to her now. No, what was bothering her was the alien. The alien that Ellen Ripley had tried everything to warn humanity about. That is was ferocious, Maia had no doubt, but there was nothing that could stand up to a barrage of armour piercing rounds from a Marine Pulse Rifle. There was something about the alien that made it far more dangerous than a lion or a shark, and Maia's instincts told her that was the thing she needed to know most of all.

There were too many gaps in her knowledge, too much confidence being displayed by the Marines under her command and worst of all, there was that space station that lay in front of her. How pleased were they going to be in discovering a Colonial Marine ship was going to interfere into their business? If the Company was willing to destroy their own personnel, an entire colony and a colonial marine squad to date, what lengths would they go to maintaining their secrets now? This conspiracy could topple them and they knew it.

It was no secret that the UNE saw the Weyland Yutani Corporation as a Frankenstein monster they could no longer control. Initially, the Weyland Yutani Corporation had been nothing more than just another multi-national company. Until the advent of the Second Global Depression. When the value of nations had become so dangerously low because deficits of astronomical amounts, they had been faced with a crisis that could have easily topple the economy of the free world. The disaster that could have followed in the wake of this calamity was beyond their ability to comprehend. For a planet which revolved around the processes of the fiscal world, this was something that could have ended civilisation as they knew it.

The Company, as its two major stockholders, Weyland and Yutani called it, emerged at a time when the world desperately needed it. Pulling together what remained of the corporate world, the executives and directors of the new conglomerate, sat down and composed a positive plan of action that would save the world from economic ruin. It was a daring plan which saw all large companies absorbed into the Weyland Yutani main frame and united under one banner. Even though it saw capitalism reaching into new and majestic heights, the world embraced the idea for it had no choice. Formerly communists nations were also forced to admit that they Weyland Yutani Plan, as it was later to be called, was the only way to save their economic futures. The world saw the potential and United Nations, desperate to increase economic growth, allowed the Company to proceed.

But the Company had other interests as well.

Demanding certain concessions, the Company had ideas of its own upon how it should conduct itself. Knowing that their demands wouldn't be refused by a planet on the verge of global bankruptcy, it asked for things that would normally be deemed outrageous. It would be free from all outside interference and it would be free from all sanctions. There would be no protest in the way the Weyland Yutani Corporation conducted itself, or else they would let the world fall into the economic chaos.

Thus the Company grew.

Within fifty years the Global Depression was over, the powers given to the Company had borne fruit. Slowly but surely, the world returned from the brink with steady economic practices to guide it. Within the century, the planet Earth was spreading colonies to the furthest corners of the galaxy. Hand in hand with NASA, Weyland Yutani made the exploration of space both possible and profitable for all who were concerned. By the time another century had rolled by, the planet was enjoying the highest economic success it had achieved in the past five hundred years since the beginning of the Industrial Age. And some where through all that time, the Company ceased to become a conglomerate, it became an institution which took on a life of its own. It needed no permission from any organisation to operate, it needed approval or gratitude to survive, thus it did whatever it wished. The Company began to believe that governments could topple and rise again, but the Weyland Yutani Corporation would be eternal.

And there it became undone.

The UNE had allowed the Company to continue the way it had, because once, when the Earth had been in jeopardy, the Weyland Yutani Corporation had saved it. It was this sympathy and this alone, that kept the UNE turning a blind eye to the Company's activities for the past sixty years. However, this theatre of thought was quickly dwindling in the present age and the need to regulate its business practices was becoming more necessary. More and more stories began to seep out through the impregnable fortress of the Company's central network. Stories of unethical behaviour, of endangerment of human life and blatant ruthlessness, were beginning to emerge in the eyes and ears of a populace who detested that any one institution should have that much power in their society. Their angry voices began to demand that something be done and the UNE had held back until now.

What Maia had discovered here through Ellen Ripley and what may lay on Fiorina, could be the event that could destroy their restraint, once and for all.

"Sir," Foster broke the silence in the observation deck. She had heard him enter the room of course, although she had to admit that like all androids, Foster had mastered the art of stealth rather well. It was amazing, she thought, that simple programming could accomplish what it took professionals years to learn . Glancing at her watch, she was surprised to see that she had loss track of time and had been standing here, staring into the vastness of the space outside for almost an hour.

"Yes Foster," she blinked, trying to reset her system to the lost time. "What's up?"

"I've got into contact with the station as you requested Captain," he explained, "and have set up a meeting with the head of the station through the communications centre. He will be on line in a few minutes, Sir."

"Good work," she commended, "now I want you to get Corporal Addison to set up a recording system on everything that is said. At a later date, it might prove useful. Also I want Lieutenant Devine and Corporal MacReady, not to mention yourself, present as witnesses. Also contact Sergeant Parker and tell him to continue with preparations for a surface landing."

Foster looked at her uncertainly, mainly because he didn't understand the reason for such fanfare over a simple meeting of introduction between the head of both ships. "I don't understand Sir, do you suspect duplicity?"

"You bet your ass I do," Maia replied. "I want it on record, everything that is said between myself and the guy over there," she motioned to the station. "This time, there is not going to be any missing information or anything else that prevents whatever is going on down on Fiorina from being connected to the Company."

II

Less than ten minutes later, they were all assembled in the communications centre. Maia had explained to Devine and the others, the necessity of their presence while she was in communication with the Company man from the space station orbiting Fiorina. Meanwhile, Addison was at the communications panel making the proper adjustments so that the incoming message would be recorded for future reference. Within a few seconds, he was finished and he looked up at her.

"Everything's ready Sir," he answered getting up to his feet. "When the message comes through, the vidcom will start recording."

"Good," Maia nodded and turned to Foster. "Put him through." With that, she placed herself into the chair before the screen and waited for the static crackling through it, to change into something more tangible. The image of the Fiorina space station came into view first, slowly orbiting the planet below. In comparison to the blue, iridescent world below, it seemed like a sterile hunk of metal that was a blight in the skies above it.

"Ugly motherfucker ain't it?" Addison remarked.

"Just secure it Corporal," Devine warned automatically and Addison merely rolled his eyes in response.

"Quiet," Maia ordered gently as the screen began to change.

The screen flickered with momentary static, before the figure of a man appeared before her. In the background, Maia was able to deduce that he was conducting this meeting from the confines of his office. The room was decorated with standard, company issue and held everything that was necessary and then some. It had a cosy feeling about it that indicated to her, that this man had been here for some time now. He himself, however, was not very likeable. With a weak chin and bland almond shaped eyes, that were hidden behind a pair of steel rimmed glasses, his hair was also greying rapidly. However, it was not his features that made him seem hostile, but the look of calculation in his eyes. Upon seeing her, the man burst into a wide smile, which Maia knew immediately to be false, displayed only to put her off guard.

She knew the type.

"Greetings, Captain Sanjay, is it?" He said amiably, his expression not changing and betraying nothing.

"Yes, it is. And I return your greetings," she responded coolly, her own eyes betraying nothing as well. "You are the head of this facility?"

"Yes, yes," he nodded, "I am Doctor Hikaru Yomato. What can I do for you Captain." He looked at her with curiosity. "We are a research facility and we don't usually get a lot of visitors, especially ones from the military."

"Oh really," she responded with the same amount of levity that he was displaying. There were playing a cat and mouse game, she decided, because in his eyes, she could see that he knew exactly why they were here. However, for the moment, it served her purposed to play out Yomato's little charade, to see where it would lead. "Exactly what research are you conducting Doctor?"

For a moment, the facade cracked slightly and Maia saw hesitation in his face. Although the moment was fleeting, it was enough, something was suddenly making him very nervous. "We are conducting research into Fiorina's ecology. The planet is a veritable fountain of new species and most of the personnel here are biologists, zoologists and anything else we could gather up for this particular field."

"Sounds utterly fascinating," she remarked. "We would appreciate a tour of your facility when our mission is completed."

"We would be glad to oblige," he nodded wearing that fake smile with even more prominence. "So what is your mission here, Captain?" He asked, easing tactfully into the question once again.

"Nothing more than a salvage operation," Maia lied, "the military received a transmission some months ago from a ship called the Sulloco, believed to be lost. It reported that the flight recorder of the vessel had been jettisoned along with an EEV and four survivors to Fiorina. We are just here to recover it."

"It would be impossible to locate after all this time, wouldn't it?" He asked, rubbing his chin quickly and somewhat uneasily, she noticed.

"Normally yes," she answered quickly. "However, we found an old report listed in the penal authority files, from the warden of the prison, prior to its closure, regarding the status of an EEV that crashed near them and how they recovered it. If it is the EEV from the Sulloco then we are going to take it back to Gateway Station with us."

"I see." Yomato nodded slowly, showing Maia that he wasn't pleased with their intention to go down to the prison. If he was nervous before, his current mental state show a marked trace of panic. Perspiration was running down his forehead in rivulets and his eyes were darting about nervously. Maia was certain now that there was something going on in the old prison that the Company was determined to hide, the question was, was it the alien?

After a few seconds, Yomato finally answered. "I'm afraid you can't do that."

"And why not?" Maia stared at him with a brow raised and clear suspicion in her manner. She wondered what story he would fabricate to keep them from going down to the planet.

"Because the Fiorina Prison has been quarantined."

Maia's exchanged glances with both Foster and MacReady, all of whom agreed with her unanimously that the excuse was weak. It was a lie fabricated at a moments notice, being nothing more than a desperate gamble for more time. Time that he did not have, because Maia didn't believe him. Not for a second.

"Quarantined?" Maia looked back at Yomato sceptically. "What from?"

"Cholera." He answered.

"Cholera!" Maia exclaimed in a mixture of shock and disbelief at this man's attempt to dissuade from going down to Fiorina, with such an incredible lie. "Stand by." She said abruptly, switching the com screen off before turning to Foster, who was wearing a look of concentration. "Is it possible Foster? I mean cholera?"

"Well," the android shrugged uncomfortably. He was reviewing the medical tapes stored in his memory on the subject in question to give Maia an answer. "It would be highly unlikely Captain, there has not been a reported case of cholera in almost two hundred years. But if the disease did get loose on the planet surface, it would have an ideal environment to thrive. Fiorina's surface is a soup, the moisture content of the planet is almost at an eighty five percent level. The air is extremely humid and there are vast oceans, making it perfect for cholera infestation. It could be possible, even if its highly unlikely."

"I'll stake my life that it is highly improbable. This just sounds like a very good excuse to keep us from going planet side." Maia retorted before flicking a switch and activating the com screen again. "Doctor Yomato," she said staring into his face once more. "I thank you for your advice and your concern. However, my team have state of the art environmental containment suits that are self sustaining, we wouldn't even come into contact with the air, so there is no cause for panic." Hopefully, Maia thought, this would call his bluff.

She could see Yomato groan inwardly at his failure to deter her from her mission. "Look Captain," he said with a sigh of defeat. "I am not supposed to divulge this information, but your insistence has left me with no other choice. Please," he looked at her almost pleading, "for the sake of your own lives and those you could infect once you return to Earth, you must not go down to the planet."

"Then you must tell me why."Maia replied icily.

Damn, MacReady thought as he watcher his Captain dealing with the Company man. She must have had ice water in those veins, he decided. While Yomato was a quivering mound of flesh, she displayed nothing but cool deliberation. Whatever she did in her past, MacReady was certain that Captain Sanjay was a professional negotiator with nerves of steel. If Yomato felt that he was going to get her to relent, then he was sadly mistaken. She wasn't going to give him an inch.

And Maia wasn't about to.

Finally, after a few long minutes while Yomato tried to decide what his next move would be since the Captain had called his bluff, the doctor wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and let out a deep breath, dispelling all this excuses at the same time as well. "We have discovered an unknown biological virus down on Fiorina. We first came into contact with it about thirty four years ago, when the Fiorina prison was still around, it killed all the people there. By the time we arrived, everyone was gone, all that was left to do was to burn the bodies and clean up the mess. However, when our scientists took air and water samples in the area, we found that whatever killed the prisoners was in the ecosystem and thriving. The virus was unlike anything we have ever discovered before, it attacks on the genetic level and is not unlike the AIDS virus of the late twentieth century. We have been working here for the last thirty five years trying to produce a vaccine but we have yet to have any success. We have manage to contain this virus on the planet since then, however, if you land on Fiorina and contract it, then it will devastate on a scale you couldn't possibly imagine."

For a moment she almost believed him. His story sounded plausible and quite believable. It would have been if not for one fact; the prisoner who survived Fiorina had died of natural causes and there wasn't a trace of any rampaging virus in his system. His account of how Fiorina's prisoners had died was quite different indeed. No virus killed them, it was an alien that did the grisly task. However, Maia wasn't about to divulge this particular bit of information, best that he believed they knew nothing.

"Doctor," she responded. "I thank you for your honesty, but if you are right and we are dealing with a virus, let me assure you, my people have experience in this kind of situation. We will wear full environmental protection suits, when we come back, every piece of equipment we have used, will undergo maximum decontamination. There will be no break in your quarantine, you have my word."

The doctor's expression darkened like a storm that had just appeared in the sky. For a moment, Maia saw a razor edged depth to his eyes that was cold and calculating. It held the promise that he was a far more formidable adversary than she had been led to believe. His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed in silent fury. If looks could kill, Maia was certain she would have dropped dead where she stood. However, she saw him steeling himself for a confrontation and Maia didn't even break into a sweat, bracing herself for it.

"I cannot allow you to land." He said firmly.

"I have the authority to land. Under military jurisdiction, my authority supersedes yours. I don't need your permission doctor, I never did. This entire meeting was merely a courtesy call to appraise you of our intentions." What Maia didn't tell him was the fact that Fiorina was Company territory and in actuality, her authority was limited, unless she were specifically empowered by the military to take command of the planet. The best she could do right now, was to try and bluff him.

"The military is unaware of our current situation, especially in regards to the matter of the quarantine." He retorted. "Under the circumstances," he looked at her with swaggering arrogance, "I think the wisest course of action would be to report to both our central command respectively and see what they think we should do to resolve this impasse. This however could take weeks, and as far as I am concerned, it would b a waste of time for an entire Colonial Marine squad to wait around here until a response comes through, wouldn't it?" The smug smile on his face was an attempt to infuriate her and even though Yomato would never know how close he had come to drawing that emotion from Maia, her face betrayed nothing.

He thinks he's got me, Maia thought to herself as she formulated a response to his challenge. He thinks I won't bother wasting my time and that of my squad to wait around here for a response to come from central command. He probably thinks I'm going to take us all back into hypersleep and head home. Well, Maia released a breath of determination, that's where he's wrong.

I've got patience and I've got time.

"Well," she said after considering her options careful. "It is fortunate that we have no pressing engagements, Doctor Yomato. Therefore, go ahead and contact your superiors and I shall do the same with mine. In the meantime however, I think we'll stay right where we are until we hear from them. I shall enjoy observing how you conduct your research and I'm sure my team would like to get over there to see how you run your station. I'm sure you wouldn't mind that, after all, you don't have anything to hide." Maia glared at him, even though she was grinning at him with a sickly sweet smile on her face.

"I'm certain that something could be arranged." He replied coolly, although she could see the thought of having a Colonial Marine squad so close to him was not a pleasing thought.

"I'd like to stay and chat with you Doctor Yomato, but I have to contact my superiors and inform them of the current situation. I suggest you do the same." With that Maia turned to Foster and gave him the order to terminate the communication link between the good doctor and herself.

***************

"Damn," Maia cursed once they had left the communications centre. She had left Foster there to relay the message she had composed for General Hanlon's perusal. She hoped his response wouldn't take as long as she feared. "I was hoping he'd fold." They were all walking down the corridors towards the living quarters of the Sparta and Maia was still somewhat annoyed by being prevented from going down on the surface, after coming so far across space.

"You played a good hand Sir," Devine complimented her. In actual truth, the young lieutenant was somewhat in awe at the way his commanding officer had handled herself with Doctor Yomato. God knows if it had been him, he would not have been able to manage it.

"Thank you Lieutenant." Maia smiled faintly in his direction. "Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to be stuck here until I get an okay from the General to proceed."

"Great," Addison snorted. "We're only in the most exciting place in the galaxy."

"You'll be spending it in the stockade if you don't lasso your mouth, Corporal." Devine warned.

"Boys, boys, enough!" Maia retorted before adding with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Play nice or I'll have to send both of you to bed."

MacReady stifled a laugh, even though until now, he hadn't said anything yet. He was taking in what had happened in the communications centre, at Yomato's desperation from keeping them off the planet's surface. "Good luck in getting a quick response from the brass," he added. "It's going to take at least four to six weeks."

"Jesus Christ," Addison groaned. "You're mean we're going to be stuck on this floating asylum for nearly two months?"

"Afraid so Corporal," Devine replied. "Chalk it up to the joys of modern communication."

"Makes you wonder though," Maia remarked thoughtfully.

"What Sir?" Devine asked, meeting her distant gaze.

"What's down there that is so important that they're willing to do everything possible to keep us from finding out about it."

CHAPTER SIX

I

It was almost a week after Maia had transmitted her message to Gateway Station on Earth. Even though only seven days had passed, it seemed as if it were much longer. The Marines waited in anticipation of some response from Earth, as boredom and tedium began to set in and they longed for some break in their daily routines. Even though they were trained individuals, being trapped in a space ship in the middle of the wilderness, was enough to try the most steadfast of souls. Only yesterday, the Captain had declared that until a response from Earth arrived, they would all be on R and R. This was severely protested by Devine until she reminded him whom he had to answer to. Still it was small comfort, when they were so far away from home with only the amenities of their ship to keep them occupied.

Unfortunately, the space station had so far refused any attempts they made to board, even if it were in the interests of recreation. The gracious hand of hospitality Yomato had offered previously had been pulled back and Maia suspected this was mainly out of fear, to keep them from discovering whatever it was that Weyland Yutani had been concealing. Of course, Yomato wouldn't come out and just say that, his reasons were more subtle, quoting the presence of the Marines to be disruptive to the concentration required by the scientists working on the vaccine on the so called virus that existed on Fiorina.

It was nearly midnight according to the ship's chronometers and Sergeant Parker, MacReady, Addison, Quinn and Daley had been engaged in rather heated poker game for much of the evening. Since they had been given R and R, it was possible if they wanted, to play all night and day because they were no longer on active duty. The games played by this men, with the exception of Daley was near legendary among the members of Bravo Company. Surrounded by a goodly proportion of beer, pretzels and cigarettes, they had been known to play for large stakes in bets that were almost like tests of will.

"How's your hand?" Daley asked MacReady who was intently studying his own cards.

The Corporal released a sigh and looked up, "I think I'll fold." He remarked, tossing his cards onto the top of the crate they were using for a table in the storage centre. MacReady was a good player and one of the reasons he was so successful was because he knew from experience, when it was the best time to give up.

"That bad?" The swarthy looking Daley asked, studying the upturned cards he had thrown down. Daley was different from most of the other Marines, he was a pilot. He was slightly overweight and had a tendency to whine about anything that took his fancy.

"Worse." MacReady answered before reaching for his pack of cigarettes to light up. Daley turned his attention away from the senior corporal and surveyed the rest of the players instead.

"How's your hand Addison?" He asked.

"Daley, play with your own fucking cards, will ya?" Quinn snapped annoyed. Every time they sat down to a game of poker, Daley would inadvertently invite himself in and then repeat his habit of asking everyone what kind of hands they had, during the game. The practice was not only rude and bad etiquette in the playing of the game, but was also incredibly annoying.

"Why don't you fuck off Quinn," Daley retaliated. "I didn't ask you." The man's round face was red with anger. However, if Daley thought he had a short temper, than he hadn't counted on Quinn's. Quinn was infamous for thinking with his fists and even more infamous for using them.

"You want a piece of me asshole?" The large Smart gunner slammed his cards down and lunged over the crate, grabbing a handful of Daley's throat. The others at the table groaned at this latest display of cabin fever from one of their fellow Marines. The incident was not isolated as everyone had been on edge the past few days.

"Knock it off!" Parker growled, as he stood up immediately and exerted his authority over everybody. His domineering presence to stamp out the spark of Quinn's fury before it became a raging inferno that would be out of control. Parker glared at Quinn with eyes of command, repeating himself slowly, but nonetheless effectively. "Back off now, Private." Reluctantly, he released Daley, who fell back into his seat with a loud and heavy thud. Daley's face was black with fury as he straightened the collar of his shirt.

"Now settle down." The Sergeant ordered, with a hint of warning in his voice, they all noticed. "I know it ain't been easy stuck in the middle of nowhere, but we better get used to it, because we have several more weeks to put up with it and I don't want nobody climbing the walls. You men are Marines and I expect you to start acting like it."

Quinn didn't look at all repentant, and neither did Daley for that matter. Both glared at each other with obvious contempt. However, to Quinn, whatever said by Master Sergeant Parker was nothing less than law and for Private Quinn obeying that law was what being a Marine was all about. Taking a deep breath, he dispelled the residual hostility he still felt for Daley and extended his hand towards the co-pilot. "Sorry man," he said in a genuine apology.

The pilot looked him straight in the eye and spat into his face.

"Fuck!" Quinn reacted furiously, wiping the spittle from his cheek.

"You can get fucked!" Daley snapped, throwing his cards down before kicking away his seat and storming out of the room. Quinn was about to go after him and make him eat those same cards, after humiliating him when he had gone out of his way to apologise.

"Let it go." Parker ordered, staring at him firmly.

"But Sir!" Quinn protested, looking at him with surprise and anger.

"Let it go," Parker said slowly, making each word sink slowly into Quinn's head for full effect. He too was not impressed by Daley's behaviour, especially when Quinn had apologised, a thing the Smart gunner was not famous for doing. "He'll cool off and then come whimpering back here, with an apology and enough shit so that you'll buy it. You know what Daley is like."

"Yes Sir," Quinn nodded in response, because the Sarge was right, he did know Daley and things would probably transpire just as Parker had said they would. Despite the fact that Daley was an absolute shit, he was still a Marine, no matter how much Quinn might regret that fact.

"Now sit down and play out your goddamn hand." Parker snapped. "That's an order."

**************

Maia had been more than surprised when Marin had approached her about giving some of the female Marines in her team, a few lessons on self defence. While all of them were more than adept at defending themselves, thanks to Parker's expert tutelage, their skills were mainly techniques more appropriate for men. Even though they had trained themselves and acquired the muscles to make those techniques worked, they were eager to learn others that would assist them to achieve that same end, without having the set-backs their gender was bound to give them.

To Maia, that made sense. Instead of maintaining their muscles and building up more to be able to fight a man on his level, they should have been fine tuning their skills by now. Thus, she aspired to teach them techniques that were exclusive for women, which required strength not muscle, agility instead of brute force. When the first lesson finally came, she found to her surprise that not only did the female members of Bravo Company attend, but also some of the men as well.

The initial lesson had been interesting to say the least. Maia made them abandon their heavy combat boots, because they were cumbersome for the moves she intended to teach them. Equipping them with boxing gloves and protective head gear, she immediately set to work, teaching them to the best of her ability. She found that Marin learnt the fastest, although MacReady came a close second. After a few lessons, the young woman had developed a technique where she combined what she had learnt from Parker, with the skills Maia had taught her.

Unfortunately for her, when she tried this same moves on her Captain, she learnt that her Captain had a few tricks up her sleeve as well. Maia taught them how to neutralise weakness and how to seek them out. She taught them the points to attack that would cause the most damage and how easy it was to subdue an opponent. Women had a tendency to hit with their fists, and for those who lacked the strength in their wrists, impact would usually cause the blow to weaken because the wrist would give way under the pressure. Maia showed them how to hit with their palms, how solid bone held the palm firm thus a strike could be devastating if not expected.

Meanwhile Maia got to know the people who were under her command. On face value, they looked like the typical Marine stereotypes, however, underneath the gruff exterior of age old traditions, the code of honour they wore proudly, were people who weren't very much different from her. For instance, she learnt that Marin had come from the slums of East Los Angeles, in the part of the city that was renown for violence and murder in the past. Now, the epidemic of criminal behaviour had become more than just a spree of violence, it had become a disease. Marin had sought to escape this madness any way possible and when one was poor, there weren't many alternatives. She had been dangerously close to becoming another statistic when a slick army recruiter stumbled upon her and revealed to her the glory of military life. She had never looked back.

Her counterpart Quinn, came from a typical Mid-Western town, with a brother who had died in the service of Colonial Marines years before. Quinn, Maia learnt, had joined the Marines also, in order to appease the parents who had been heartbroken by their older son's loss. Hall, their senior pilot was a veteran of two marriages and several commercial piloting jobs with the Company, when she became disillusioned by the way it treated their employees when she decided to join the army. She had joined, she said in order to accomplish something rewarding beyond the almighty dollar, in her life.

Medtech Catherine Yates had spent her life with people telling her what to do and how she should do it. Her parents had planned on sending her to a college she didn't want to attend, then to a career she detested. Joining the Marines had been an act of rebellion on her part, initially. However, eventually, the young woman found that she enjoyed what she did. She liked having command of her own destiny and her friends had taught her the importance of staying true to ones own desires. Yates was shy and she was timid, but Maia didn't doubt it that she had the kind of strength that no less effective when invoked.

Lieutenant Devine would have found Yates' situation with her family similar, Maia thought. Devine was apart of a family that breathed army. His father had been a West Pointer and had more or less decided that his only son would be the same. Devine had spent much of his life surrounded by salutes, medals and brass, it didn't surprise Maia that he knew not much else. From the manner in which he spoke of his father, Maia suspected that Devine had plans of his own before they were savagely cut to ribbons by his enrolment into the Academy.

She almost felt sorry for him.

II

"I think I'm going to die." Yates declared, lying on the floor of the gymnasium, looking quite defeated. Classes were over for the day and while the men were quick to hit the showers, the women in the Marine Corp were quite contented to stay where they were to recover from the experience. Sitting around drinking Cokes, they allowed themselves to unwind after their arduous self defence class.

"I didn't know I was this out of shape." Yates groaned once again. She wiped the sweat that was running down her forehead before taking a sip of her drink.

"You're not," Maia smiled. "If you were, you wouldn't even be able to move right now."

"Terrific," Marin complained, sitting up further, so the wall she was up against would take the weight of her back instead of letting her spinal cord endure the burden alone. "There is some small consolation to all this pain."

"Yeah," Maia replied again, "think how much better you are for it."

"To be this tired," Hall said with a salacious grin. "I'd rather get laid."

"You're terrible!" Yates laughed out loud.

"Oh come on," the pilot countered quickly. "Are you telling me that you would take this every day when you could be having sex instead?" Hall could see a faint tinge of red appear on the young woman's cheeks and persisted in her gentle teasing. "If it were me, I'd be bonking my brains out for sure."

"I'd rather do it for the sake of love than exercise." Yates retorted with a trace of haughtiness in her voice. "I mean, what an awful reason to have sex, just for exercise. It should be with someone you love."

"Love?" Marin stared at her astonished. For a Marine, Yates had a surprisingly outdated look to the relationships between men and women. Her response drew similar groans of mortification and disbelief from the others, mirroring her own surprise. "You gotta be kidding, Cat."

"I've been married twice," Hall volunteered, while lighting herself a cigarette and passing the pack around the room. "Both times it was for the sake of true love , and let me tell you something, love as an ingredient for great sex has been incredibly overrated. Both times, it was mediocre at best," she looked at Yates once again. "So let me give you some advice Cat, love is the worst possible reason to have good sex."

This drew a fit of laughter from the other women in the room, who were veterans enough in the subject they were discussing to know that Hall was right, from their own personal experiences. Yates however, looked at Hall somewhat troubled. "You mean you've never had sex that was truly wonderful?"

"Of course I had!" Hall replied laughing harder. "But usually it was from guys I was never serious about getting married and it usually didn't last for more than a few weeks. These were from men who had no idea whether they were coming or going. It lasted for a while, but boy," she smiled at everyone in the room, "what a while."

"What about you Captain?" Marin asked, once they had settled down from Hall's unique perspective of the kind of sex women like them were used to experiencing. "Ever been married?"

"No." Maia answered honestly, amused by this whole subject. It was rare that she got an opportunity to commune with women whose lives weren't very dissimilar to hers. "I never even gave it a thought, but I know what Hall's talking about. One things about my business, there is never a lacking in men, there are always plenty of them from where they came from."

"What do you mean, `your business'?" Yates inquired.

"The army business," Maia quickly answered, scolding herself for using such ambiguous words. "Although they never stay around long, when they find out you're in the army too." She added, making certain that she sounded like a veteran.

"True," Hall agreed whole heartedly. "Nothing makes a man ran faster when you tell him you're in the service. I'd like to meet a man who doesn't bolt for a change."

"Comes with the territory." Marin replied, knowing what Maia and Hall were talking about from personal experience. Being a Marine was bad enough, but when they learnt she was a Smart gunner as well, the writing was usually on the wall very quickly.

"So pick one who is in the army." Maia suggested, because earlier on when she had first joined UNE, she had learnt that either she picked suitors who were in the same field as she was, or become accustomed to spending a lot of time alone and celibate. "I mean the immediate selection is pretty impressive."

"But we work with them!" Yates exclaimed. "Wouldn't that create a conflict situation."

"Not really," Marin spoke up in response. "We're professionals and so are the guys we work with. If it ever came down to it, we'd just have to make certain that we keep our personal relationship and our professional one under control. And if not, the Sarge will do plenty to help. Besides there are some nice looking men in this outfit. Mac for instance, you know what they say about still waters running deep." She winked at Hall.

"Mac?" Maia asked.

"MacReady!" Hall answered. "He's the nicest guy you'd ever meet. In or out of the service. Great guy to have around in a crisis situation and a good friend." Judging from Hall's tone, it was obvious that Hall's feelings for the senior corporal were very affectionate, even if it was platonic.

"I'll remember that." Maia remarked. "Although, I think as CO, I should really maintain a safe distance."

"Mac's the best," Hall said with a faint smile. "We've been friends for a long time. He and I join the Corp about the same time and he made sure I got through the ropes without falling on my butt too many times. He's the only man I'll ever call friend."

"I know the feeling," Marin added. "I'm the same way with Quinn. Sure, he looks like a tough hombre, but he's gotta lot of shit going on at home. Like I went to meet his parents once, during leave and I'll tell you, its know wonder he's the way he is. They really worshipped his older brother and they never let Quinn forget that he was second best. Part of the reason why he's such a hard ass is because half the time, he's trying to compete with a dead brother."

"Ah," Maia said with a sigh. "They are certainly complex little things aren't they?"

As Maia spent the rest of the afternoon with these women, she suddenly realised that the Colonial Marines she had protested so much against leading, were no longer faceless grunts in combats boots, to her anymore. In fact, all of them were starting to shape and form, defining themselves to her as individuals she was starting to get to more personal with. She had spent much of her life not getting attached to the people involved in her assignments, but this time, much to her dismay, Maia Sanjay found that she was actually starting to care about these Colonial Marines.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I

The android Foster had been busy at work, even though the rest of his crew mates on board the Sparta were almost half insane from boredom. Despite the temptation to let himself become immersed in the same situation that the rest of his comrades were forced to endure, Foster set a task for himself, within the parameters of what Captain Sanjay was trying to learn about the Weyland Yutani presence on Fiorina. At first, his efforts were fruitless, mainly because the Company's security around this particular subject were almost impregnable. However, for an android, Foster had a streak of stubbornness and determination that would have baffled his programmers and which kept his vigilance on the matter.

Within six weeks of their floundering presence above Fiorina, Foster had made a certain amount of progress, even though it had been no easy task to get this far. He was confident enough about his results that he eventually notified Captain Sanjay regarding his efforts. She entered the communication centre where he had been based this past week and found him at his usual place by the computer terminal that patched him to network.

"You wanted to see me Foster." Maia said pleasantly as she entered the room. She had wondered where he had been disappearing to these past weeks while they were stuck on this damn ship. However, as she approached him, Maia realised that he had been hard at work, because there was a look of anticipation on his face, that was unusual on android. Maia herself, began to look anxiously to what Foster may had discovered.

"Yes Sir," he nodded, not looking up as he readied the terminal for what he wanted her to see. After a second, when she had taken a seat next to him, Foster looked up at her and gave her a further answer, although he was still having trouble looking her in the eye. "While we were here, I took the liberty of doing some research into what the Company was doing here, in regards to the station."

"You mean their bullshit story." She replied with a smile.

Foster didn't get the joke. "Yes Sir," he answered instead, "their bullshit story."

"Okay Foster," she chuckled softly, "tell me what you've got."

The android nodded and seemed pleased to get back to the subject. He was still uncomfortable with human relationships and didn't know how to react when an offer of interaction was made towards him. He was used to spending much time alone and the Captain's gestures of friendship were something he was still uncertain how to receive. "I couldn't access the station's Mainframe because they activated an ionic field disruptor as soon as we arrived."

"Really?" Maia remarked with a raised brow. Ionic field disruptors prevented the linking of computers through space. All ships came equip with subspace relays, which allow computers from one ship to be able to communicate with one another. Ionic field disruptors were used mainly by those on the very highest of Planetary Security echelons. It was illegal for the Company to possess one. By law, their records should have been a matter of public access. Still, the Company had taken great pains to hide their operations prior to this, so Maia couldn't say she was surprised.

"Anyway," he continued. "Since I couldn't patch into the Mainframe on the station, I turned by attention to Network on Earth. While I couldn't get into the heart of the Company's data on the station itself, regarding what they are doing here, I was able to infiltrate lesser systems, such as shipping and transportation. And what I found was very interesting."

"How so?" Maia asked patiently, wondering Foster was getting at and deciding that he'd tell her in good time once she was fully appraised of all the facts.

"In the last six months, they have had at least 32 ships in this sector alone, dropping off cargo."

"Thirty two ships?" Maia looked at him with astonishment and saw that he was very certain about his facts. "How on earth can a research station get that much traffic? Especially if they are trying to maintain quarantine conditions? Why would they need that much cargo any way?"

"Unknown," Foster answered automatically, unaffected by her shock. "However, I did some checking into the nature of what cargo they might possibly need and the shipping instructions for it were very specific. Everything was labelled as highly fragile, with the cargo holds requiring temperature regulators and environmental controls. The cargo sections of all ships were fully pressurized."

Maia thought quickly and as she exchanged a glance with Foster, began to realise that the conclusion she was drawing was one that he himself had determined. "Could their cargo be alive?" She asked, speaking what was on both of their minds.

"At this point," Foster said with a determined expression on his face, although no less mystified that she was, "I don' think there can be any other reason. The only other possible conclusion might be biological samples that are commonly used for research. But the quantity is all wrong. There is no reason to have that many samples, coming from thirty two different ships."

"I suppose it would help if we know exactly what these live samples are." Maia mused. "Could they be using test animals for their supposed vaccine research?" She looked at the android in question. "I mean, ignoring the fact that they are committing a crime by transporting live animals for scientific testing."

"That too is possible," Foster answered, "but once again, the quantity is all wrong. There is simply too many of them in 32 ships, even a station of that size would have some difficulty maintaining conditions for that many animals."

"I guess," Maia remarked, however, she was becoming more and more inclined to believe that the possibility of a dangerous biological virus might actually exist, even if all the facts that she had in her possession were not correlating with one another. She was also fast reaching another conclusion as well; that she would learn nothing by sitting here with no more than speculation to fuel her theories. She had to get on the station itself, her options were fast cornering her into that last choice. "I guess I'm not going to find out sitting here. I'm going to have to go on board the station."

Foster looked at her for the first time, with an unhappy expression on his face. "The station will not be easy to infiltrate under any circumstances Captain and you would be unwise to attempt. Even if you make it to the station, you will be alone. The Marines here will not be able to help you and further more, you will be compromising the military by such an action if you should be captured." However, Foster's concern was more than military protocol, he was troubled by the concept that his Captain should think of undertaking such a dangerous venture.

"Don't worry," Maia said good naturedly, "even if I do go on board, I won't get caught." She looked at him and saw that he was none convinced and Maia was surprised to see that his concern was genuine and it was for her welfare that he was worried.

"I never have been before." She added with a smile.

*****************

She could believe how much she was looking forward to this.

The room felt charged by the electricity of her excitement as she stared out the small portal. The Weyland Yutani space station lay in the distance, seeming like some great mystery that was just beyond her reach to discover. Maia studied the distance that lay between it and the Sparta and she estimated that they were approximately two thousand meters apart.

Close enough for her to reach with her wearing a jet suit.

She knew with utmost confidence that she could make the trip to the station and back easily, with very little chance of discovery. There had been numerous times in her career where she had been forced to make a journey like this and she knew how to go about it without being caught. And this time, she couldn't afford to be caught. It would destroy all the credibility she had built with the Marines under her command if they learned that she was no army Captain, but a UNE agent impersonating as one.

Still, she had no choice. She couldn't simply wait around here until Earth base gave her a response to deal with Yomato's stonewalling attempts to keep them from the surface. Maia Sanjay had been given a job to do because she was the best agent they had, and it was a reputation she had earned by being daring and somewhat ingenious when attempting to accomplish her missions. She knew that this was an extreme solution to achieve this particular mission, but there was nothing left to do. Whether the others knew it or not, this was only the beginning with Yomato. Even if they did receive authorisation to land, Maia was certain that Yomato would come up with another excuse to keep her from going on to the surface. There was something there that he simply couldn't afford to have discovered and if he was going to bar Maia from Fiorina's surface, then she was going to be damned if she let him keep her from the station as well.

Maia waited until all the Marines had gone to bed, or to their rooms anyway. What she was about to do was contrary to everything that was army and she knew they would look at her with suspicion if she even suggested it. Also, in the unlikely event that she was indeed discovered, then she would bear the consequences of that alone. She had no intention of implicating them as accomplices if anything did go wrong. Maia had come to care about them too much to let that happen.

As Maia made her way to Airlock Six, which was on the other end of the ship, far away from the crew quarters, she wondered how she could have allowed herself to become so attached to these Marines. What were they to her any way? They were just players in another mission, no different from any others she had been in her career, why should she care so much? Maia resolved herself to walk away from this when this mission was over, she would disappear into the woodwork once more, back to her real job at the UNE and they would never know that she was anything but army.

Dressed in black, she moved stealthy towards her destination. She wore the clothes she was accustomed to wearing when she went on operations like this. The skin tight body suit and soft soled boots made for easily mobility and silent footsteps which would not only help her blend into the darkness when she moved, but would not restrict her movements should she be discovered. Maia to especial care to make her departure from crew quarters as unnoticed as possible and for most part she succeeded.

Until Corporal MacReady saw her.

He would have missed her completely if he wasn't sneaking a cigarette in one of the darkened corridors of the Sparta, through which Maia was currently traversing. She barely saw him as she hurried by, but her silhouette moving through the darkness had not escaped him and she passed by him, unaware that she had been discovered. MacReady held still for several seconds after she had passed, making certain that she was long gone before he dared to move.

For a few moments, he debated what to do. He knew that he had inadvertently stumbled across something important, because his suspicions about her had not been easy to dispel. He knew, almost to the point of obstinacy, that she was not what she seemed and seeing her sneak away, in the manner she had seemed to confirm it. Finally, he made a decision and hope to god that it was the right one. He moved forward in pursuit, using as much stealth as she had and making certain that she didn't discover him.

Because that wouldn't go down well at all. However, Corporal MacReady wanted to know who she was and for the immediate presence, where she was going.

Maia reached Airlock Six a few minutes later and found the suit compartments next to the huge, pressurized doors. Sliding the compartment door apart, she found what she was looking for; a jet suit. The Sparta came fully equip with state of the art equipment for its Marines and Maia was pleased to see that desire for excellence extended to their deep space gear as well. The jet suits were of the very best quality and she quickly began to slip into the folds of the heavy material. The jet suits came equip with two hours of oxygen in its small tanks and a thruster pack which enabled its use by the controls in the gloves of the suit.

She dressed quickly, partially because she wanted to get out of the Sparta so that the Marines wouldn't see her and also because she was eager to unlock some of the mystery that Yomato was hiding inside the space station walls. Making certain that her suit was secure, she finally snapped on the helmet over her head and activated the breathing tanks resting on her back. Fresh air immediately flooded around her and she took a deep breath of it. The air was slightly metallic in its texture because of its long containment in the canisters, but after a moment, this defect had diminished and she was breathing normal air again.

Once she was dressed, she made her way to the airlock doors. There was no sudden shift in gravity when she entered the airlock a few seconds later, mainly because the outer doors were still shut. Through its glass windows, she could see the stars and the vastness of space outside. Maia clung to the maintenance rungs inside the airlock before she depressed the button that would open the outer doors. The pressurized door open with a loud gasp and Maia felt the vacuum of space tugging at her hard. Holding her position, thanks to the metal rungs, she waited until all the air had escaped the airlock before making her way outside.

Slowly walking along the wall of the airlock, her body succumbing to the effects of open space, Maia felt her volume disappear as she became accustomed to weightlessness. When she emerged past the outer doors, she felt momentarily overwhelmed by the space around her. Maia felt infinitesimal amongst the stars, the empty vacuum and the ship next to her. She loved being in space like this, but the first few minutes always took some getting used to. Being out here was the closest thing to riding the waves of destruction as anyone could be. It was a sobering though to remember that beyond this suit, a human could survive for less than a millisecond before exploding into the solar winds.

Come on, snap out of it, she told herself. She had a job to do and time was not something she had in great abundance. Looking at the controls on her gloves, she studied the controls on the top of her hand before pressing an angry red button in the centre of it.

"Thrusters have been activated." A small computer voice alerted her through the audio gear in her helmet. "Five seconds to initialisation." This prompted Maia to direct herself towards the station and steeled herself for the force of the initial burst.

"Five," she began the count-down.

"Four," the computer continued on without pause or emotion. "Three....two....one....zero...... thruster packs initialized."

The thrusters roared to life and sent Maia forward with one incredible burst of energy. She found herself hurtling forward and it took her a second to compose herself and another to direct herself at the station. She had studied the schematics of the stations' layout, so she knew where she was going. During her studies, she had located a place on the station that would be deserted and assumed it to be the maintenance airlock on the underside of the station. Such airlocks were common in a station of that size, particularly when inspections of the outer hull were required. Staring ahead, Maia allowed the thrusters to carry her forwards.

Towards the Weyland Yutani Space station

And towards the truth.

MacReady watched his Captain disappear quickly into a tiny dot, as the thrusters of her suit carried her towards the Company space station. Staring out the window of the airlock's inner doors, he wondered what he should do next. Because it was fairly obvious what she was doing and if anything convinced him she wasn't army, then that did. No Captain would do that. Still, was he ready to take her on? Because even with his suspicions, she wore Captains' gold on her collar and he was just a Corporal, a grunt. The lowest part of the food chain.

Letting out a deep breath, he made a decision and hoped it was the right one. Corporal MacReady turned towards the jetsuit compartments and liberated one of the suits for himself. Getting dress quickly, he made certain his suit was secured before he proceeded any further. Because no matter how badly he wanted to keep the Captain in sight, he didn't want to die in space either. As he stepped into the airlock, once she was finished, he could see the bright trail of her thrusters taking her to the underside of the station.

"Shit." He cursed softly under his breath as he activated the controls to the airlock's outer doors. He hated space travel.

II

Air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath of air when she had pulled off her helmet. Maia looked around the quiet corridor of the maintenance airlock from which she had emerged. The lights in the corridor were dim which was what she had expected, after all, according to the time, it was well past midnight and most of the station's staff would be off duty or asleep. Knowing she didn't have time to waste, Maia stripped off the jet suit and found a maintenance cupboard to hide it in. As an added bonus, she saw a couple of maintenance overalls hanging on the wall, next to the entrance to a work station. Slipping one of the orange overalls over her body suit, she hurried down the corridor to see where it would lead.

Had she waited a few seconds, she would have heard the soft thump made by Corporal MacReady when he impacted against the metal of the outer doors. He found the panel that opened the door and was more than a little relieved when they opened for him. It was no secret that he hated space travel and space walking even less, as it was he didn't know how he had managed to make it here without losing himself to panic. Still, he had to admire the Captain, she had made her approach here seem effortless, and he wished he had some of her expertise.

MacReady clambered onto the floor of the corridor, leading from the maintenance airlock that Maia Sanjay, who only minutes ago, had made her entrance to the station through. He never thought he would be so glad to be on dry land again, even if it was attached to a space station in the middle of nowhere. MacReady was still wondering if he wasn't as crazy as his commander to follow here. Still, he guessed it was too late complaining about it now. He was here and there was nothing left to do but to follow her lead, where ever she was.

Where Maia was at that moment, was standing before a computer terminal outlet. She patched herself into the station's layout to find out whereabouts in the station she was. Within seconds, a floor plan of the entire space station appeared before here and she studied it quickly, particularly emphasizing her study on the route towards the station's hangar. When she had accessed all the information she required, Maia left the terminal and began walking down the corridor towards the elevator that resided at the end of the passageway.

Suddenly she paused.

Stopping in her tracks, Maia was almost certain that for a minute, she had heard footsteps. Looking around the length of the corridor, she saw no one but she was certain enough to keep going. Moving towards the sharp corner, she waited to see if those sounds would repeat themselves again. They did. The footsteps belonged to someone walking down the corridor quickly, the soles of their feet slapping down hard against the cold, steel floor as they walked. Maia swore under her breath. Damn! She had hoped she wouldn't have to resort to violence, but now she found she had no choice.

With her back pressed up against the edge of the wall, she waited patiently as the person made his or her approach. Secretly, she was angry at this added complication, things had been going so well until this point. The footsteps were becoming louder and judging from the impact on the floor, the person they belonged to was a man. Maia braced herself for attack.

No sooner than the man had entered her line of vision, Maia struck him in the temple with lightning flash movements. Taking the full force behind her palm, the man reeled back and hit the opposing wall, before managing to look her in the face, stunned before sliding to the floor. It took a split second for Maia to recognise the man she had just attacked, for he was staring her in the face with as much astonishment as she was displaying.

And when that second had passed, Maia found herself staring into the relieved face of Corporal MacReady.

PART TWO

PART THREE