Part Seven

Chris did not see Mary before the Maverick left for the Vorlis system even though he knew he probably should have. However, when the moment came and the Maverick was about to depart, Chris found he could not bring himself to see the lovely protocol officer. He knew that his actions were bordering on the dangerous and he risked alienating her the more he continued to behave this way. There would come a point that he would push her so far that he would never get her back but the irony of the situation was, he was at such a state of mind that he hardly had the will to keep it from happening.

Buck was not at all pleased to leave the Fiorina system with a substantial number of the senior staff absent. However, he understood that there were subordinates who could carry out the mission in Vorlis just as well as the senior bridge officers and in all honesty, if the Captain were determined to stay then Buck would prefer it if he were surrounded by officers who would not be intimidated by his rank. While Vin, Julia, Alex and Ezra respected the chain of command; they were unafraid to speak their mind if Chris were to embark on what was potentially a hazardous course of action. Besides, between Alex and Ezra, Buck was certain that Chris’ personal safety would be assured.

Everyone took a moment to watch the Maverick making its departure. The great ship offered a spectacular view as it sailed across the indigo sky, the dark canvas of space a stark contrast against the light blue tinge of its hull. Chris felt his insides hollow a little at watching his ship leave without him and for the first time questioned his reasoning to stay when by all rights, he should be on the bridge of the Maverick, taking her to face whatever waited in the Vorlis system. However, that momentary lapse was soon overwhelmed by the insatiable desire to unlock the secrets of the Sulaco and more specifically, the woman who had become so important to him in such a short a time, Ellen Ripley.

After the Maverick’s departure, everyone returned to their assigned tasks. Vin, eager to take the drop ship out for a spin, was aiding Julia Pemberton as she went through the ship’s systems, ensuring that every aspect of the old transport was examined with deep scrutiny before she gave any endorsement for it to be taken out of the Sulaco. As enthusiastic as she was on working on such a vintage piece of machinery, she would not even consider allowing it to become airborne until she was absolute certain of its passengers’ safety. This meant hours of work ahead and Chris wondered if Vin’s patience would last that long. It was probably why he was helping Julia, the captain decided.

Ezra was presently examining the length and breadth of the ship with the four security officers he had sent for from the Maverick. Although the security chief would have like to have had Lieutenant Katovit with him on this mission, Ezra would not be content with anyone else playing his role on the Maverick in his absence. Still, he had taken the best officers under his command in lieu of Katovit himself. Lieutenant Atwater and Collins were seasoned officers and though Ensigns Angel and Christie were young, they were sensible enough to think first before acting.

However, despite his determination to check out the ship completely, he had to be realistic. The Sulaco was a mile across with nowhere near the technology that allowed the main computer to monitor the ship’s internal systems as was done on the Maverick by its own computer. Thus, Ezra’s search of the ship had to be done the old fashioned way and that was a lot of ground to cover, with endless conduits, ventilation grills, shafts and narrow openings to search.

Alex in the meantime had confined herself to the Sulaco’s bridge, viewing all the data to be garnered from the personal recorders of the Colonial Marines who had descended upon the planet LV427 in search of colonists. Judging from what she had learnt so far, it appeared as if the bulk of the Marines had died on the surface of that barren world. She observed all the information before her and put them into some order before attempting to make a deeper analysis of what had gone on.

After what seemed like hours upon hours of study, Alex finally reached a point where she was confident enough to provide the captain with a working theory regarding what had happened on LV427, not to mention a description of the creature encountered there that had caused so much destruction. There was no doubt in her mind that the alien she witnessed through the screen of the station she was working from was nothing less than the stuff of nightmares. As a science officer, she had been accustomed to seeing all kinds of life forms, intelligent and non-intelligent. While some were to be viewed with caution, she had never come across one that scared the hell out of her, until now.

She wondered what it must have been like for the Marines, who had never faced such an enemy in their lives, being expected to rescue 150 colonists from these things whose life cycle required a human host to perpetuate. Even now, with all the worlds they had charted and visited, the Federation had never encountered anything like this Ripley’s alien, added to the fact that the species in all likelihood was not a carbon based but rather silicon. Silicon based life though rare, did exist and the tricorders could be adjusted to detect it if required. James Kirk who had been the first starship captain to encounter a silicon-based organism, being the Horta who were now a member race of the Federation, had made similar adjustments to his tricorder in order to find the creature to make that first encounter.

Alex also examined the crew manifests and reviewed the internal surveillance tapes of the Sulaco. She made a quick study of the hull of the remaining drop ship, hoping that it might explain what had happened to its sister ship. After gathering all available data on board the Sulaco, Alex was finally ready to deliver her report to the Captain. The senior staff of the Maverick gathered together in the mess hall at Alex’s summons, while the security officers continued their sweep of the ship. Despite the vastness of the search area, Ezra refused to let his guard down and after what Alex had seen on the tapes garnered from the personal recorders, she was rather glad for his vigilance.

"So you've completed your analysis?" Chris asked from his seat around one of the long tables they were occupying. There was hint of impatience in his voice and Alex guessed he was eager to hear what she had uncovered.

"I've reviewed all the tapes and put them into some kind of order. However," she added meeting his gaze. "I'm only speculating in some instances and there are wide gaps to what I do know so keep this all in mind when I make my report."

"We are all ears." Ezra remarked with an encouraging smile.

"Thanks," Alex threw the chief security officer a grin and turned her attention to her audience. Vin winked at her from where he was, reinforcing Ezra's vote of confidence with a more personal display meant for her as more than just the science officer. Clearing her throat, she began to explain what she had found and hoped that it would satisfy the Captain's curiosity until they could go to Fiorina itself.

"From what I've been able to determine, it appears that the Marines left the Sulaco in one of two drop ships on board, bound for LV427 or in this case, Acheron as it was known then. The equipment inventory confirms this. The squad was usually deployed planet side from the drop ship by means of an armored transport, called an APC by its members. It’s a small terrestrial vehicle, fully armored with titanium shielding and capable of carrying the entire squad over short distances through the most adverse landscape."

"That didn't come back either." Julia responded. She had seen no evidence of the transport in question though she suspected it shared its fate with the Marines on the world where they had died.

"No," Alex nodded grimly, perfectly aware why not. "The Marines were deployed to the colony called Hadley's Hope and preceded a careful penetration of the complex in order to make assessment of the situation. As it turned out, the colony appeared deserted. This was a mining facility possessing what was remarkable technology for its time, an atmosphere processor. The entire colony was built around the nuclear powered atmosphere processor, which over a period of decades was supposed to turn an otherwise limited oxygen atmosphere into something a little more hospital to humans. It was a forerunner to the environmental landscaping we now perform prior to colonization."

"If I recall correctly," Chris remarked. "Those processors were often dangerous because of the nuclear component."

"Yes they were," she nodded, impressed by Chris' knowledge and supposed that the captain could be a veritable fountain of surprises when he desired to be. "Anyway, not to digress." She returned to the subject at hand because she was certain Chris was more interested in the Marines experiences on Acheron rather than the details of the atmosphere processor.

"The Marines found that the colony was deserted and proceeded to make a sweep of the living facility and the colony command centre. It was during this time that they discovered the presence of Rebecca Jorden. She was an eight year old who had been hiding in the ventilation shafts and access tunnels under the facility. Apparently her size had made it easy for her to fit into the small spaces and this was how she managed to elude the same fate as the other colonists."

"My God," Julia whispered, feeling a great wave of sympathy for that little girl now lost in time and history. "The poor thing."

"Well judging from the images taken from the recorders, the little girl stayed mostly with Ripley. I think they both them probably understood the situation better anyone else since they both had been only survivors."

There was a moment of silence as those in the room imagined the bond that must have existed between little Rebecca and Ellen Ripley. Two tragic souls finally finding comfort and kinship in the endurance of their private hell. In truth, it made a great deal of sense although if he were here, they were certain Josiah would have a technical term for it.

"Go on." Chris prompted her quietly.

"Rebecca was able to tell them very little and in the girl's state of mind which was to say understandably withdrawn after what she had experienced, the Marines chose not to press her too hard for information. There were no bodies in the facility at all but it was clear that the colonists had uncovered the derelict ship that Ripley and the Nostromo stumbled upon." Alex said with a pained sigh and a soft hiss followed the room as everyone grimaced in one way or another, feeling saddened that Ripley had been right about her fears.

"There were alien spores in the colony laboratory and reports indicating that surgical removal had been attempted on one of the infected colonists. He died in the attempt. There is also evidence of acid burns in the complex and apparently several sections were barricaded from the inside. The barricades did not hold. However because there were no bodies, the Marines were forced to trace them through personal data transmitters that every colonists had surgically implanted. The trace indicated that all the colonists were gathered at the atmosphere processor, particularly under the primary heat exchange."

"An unfortunate location." Ezra grimaced. " If I am correct, the weapons of the time utilized projectiles. Had they fired any of them while they were under the primary heat exchange they...."

"They would have ruptured the coolant exchange." Julia finished off for him. "They could have blown themselves sky high. Those atmosphere processors were pretty formidable, we're talking about a blast radius of almost 55 square kilometers."

"Fortunately," Alex spoke an octave higher. "That didn't happen. They realized the potential and went in there with flamethrowers. They found the colonists or what was left of them." Alex paused a moment as she remember the nightmarish images of bodies suspended against the wall, forced into a terrible tapestry of agony and atrocity that was beyond imagination. Of limbs broken in order to fit the mosaic prepared and then that was not even the worst of it.

"The aliens got them." Vin said as a matter of factly. It was not even a question.

"Every last one of them." She nodded. "They were used as hosts. The images I saw had an opened egg in front of every colonist. They all had the same wounds, sternum exploding outward."

"Jesus." Chris whispered and wondered what his ancestor must have thought about seeing all that. What must have Hicks been thinking when faced with all that carnage. He supposed he would never really know, even though he could make a rather educated guest.

"This is where it gets fuzzy," Alex resumed her narrative after that momentary pause. "It appears that one of the colonists were still alive. The Marines had found her just in time to see the alien emerge and reacted by incinerating the thing. Unfortunately, it appears these creatures can put themselves in hibernation at will and the sudden commotion woke them all up. There were about 150 colonists, so assuming that everyone of them were implanted, that number corresponded to how many aliens there were. As far as I can tell, only seven Marines survived that initial encounter. The vital statistics of all the others were terminated then and there. Out of the seven, two life signs readings did not last for more than a few hours. However, these signs were very irregular and I can only assume that this was mostly because of they were being immobilized the way Cain, the infected member of the Nostromo must have been during embryo implantation."

"What a way to die." Julia gasped again, beyond horror at the nightmare those poor souls must have suffered in their final hours."

"What about the others?" Chris asked. Seven was a lot more than the number of three that had been recorded as having been ejected from the Sulaco much later.

"Well other than the two that were cocooned, the other life signs that terminated shortly after belonged to the pilots, Ferro and Spunkmeyer. Spunkmeyer first and then Ferro."

"That is too much of a coincidence." Ezra pointed out. "Both pilots being killed at the same time?"

"Could it have been at midflight?" Vin asked. "I mean that might have explained what happened to the other dropship."

"I think it was." Alex retorted. "The Sulaco registered a large explosion on the surface about the time Ferro’s life signs were terminated. "I think that for some reason or another, she died either piloting the dropship possible after it had already taken off. After the disaster in the atmosphere processor, it would make sense that the order to evacuate would have been given and I think that during the take off procedure, something cause the dropship to crash, killing both the pilots."

"So they were trapped there." Chris concluded.

"More or less." Alex shrugged because the information after this point was limited. "I’ve confirmed that the second dropship, the one that’s on board the Sulaco was launched via remote control from the planet’s surface some hours later. The transmission came from a colony transmitter so I assume that what was left of the landing party probably retreated to the colony complex while they tried to bring down the second dropship."

"They must have succeeded." Chris responded. "Three of them made it back here."

"Well the dropship did land on the planet but I went over the hull a short time ago and I found residual scorching and radiation levels that corresponds with a 40 – 50 megaton nuclear blast. Now the first explosion recorded by the Sulaco was nothing like that so I believe when the Sulaco crashed, it somehow damaged the atmosphere processor. Like I said, those atmosphere processors were remarkable technology for its time but still limited and a large enough detonation near the core could cause emergency venting."

"So they got away before the blast but only three of them reached the Sulaco." Ezra mused. "Tragic."

"Four actually." Alex said suddenly.

"Four?" Vin exclaimed. "What do you mean four?"

"Remember we kept seeing the reference to a synthetic being on board?" Alex responded with more than a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah," Vin nodded, recalling. "I was going to ask you about it. What’s that about?"

"I think they were referring to an android." She announced.

"You mean a pre-Soong model?" Julia sat up and paid close attention, Alex’s enthusiasm infecting her rapidly.

"Yes," Alex grinned. "I mean a pre-Soong model. During the Eugenics War and the Third World War, artificial intelligence was explored on a much larger scale than it probably is now. The theory of the time was that if robots as they were called at the time, could be created that mimic humans perfectly, humans would not have to spend months in hibernation during space travel. The engineers of the time made some incredible strides in robotics, far beyond what is achieved now. The earlier models were different internally of course but outwardly; they were near indistinguishable from humans. The very late models were manufactured down to the genetic level. Cut them open and you would have to put their organs under a microscope to know they weren’t real, that’s how exact it was."

"Jesus," Vin exclaimed. "How come we don’t have more of them now?"

"Paranoia." Chris retorted, having heard of the androids of the 21^st century from his studies. "By the time the Optimum Movement came to being, the conglomerates were toppled and the new regime saw the androids as a remnant of that era. They were ordered destroyed, every last one of them. Not only was the models themselves to be eradicated but all the research work and engineering details that was required to produce them. One hundred years or research in robotics was effectively destroyed. By the time the Third World War had ended, no one could build one even if they wanted to."

"It’s why Noonien Soong had to start from scratch when he chose to build Commander Data of the Enterprise." Julia explained before turning back to Alex. "So you’re saying that there was a synthetic on board the Sulaco when the EEV was ejected."

"Yes," Alex nodded. "We have no evidence that the EEV made it to Fury 361 intact. If that ship crashed there, then the synthetic might have been damaged and discarded."

"You think its still on planet?" Chris realized what had captured Alex’s attention so profoundly.

"Why not?" Alex looked at them. "The facility was shut a short time after the EEV’s arrival there with only prisoner surviving whatever took place down there. What’s the point of taking the EEV wreckage back to Earth? Chances are the Company would want what took place at Acheron to be a secret so they would not want any evidence of their complicity to survive. I say they would have left it on Fury because it was abandoned and if that the case, what’s left of the synthetic might be down there too."

"That’s a long shot." Julia remarked dubiously.

"I know," Alex nodded. "But if it’s down there, then we have an actual eye witness to everything that had happened, not to mention the only artifact in existence regarding 21^st century robotics."

"Don’t you just love her when she’s all excited." Vin joked and garnered a sarcastic look from Alex.

"So it all comes down to us getting down there." Chris remarked after a brief pause following the completion of Alex’s report.

"More or less." She replied. "We’ve gone as far as we can on this ship."

"How far away are we from having that dropship prepped for launch?" Chris turned to Julia and Vin.

"A few hours." The engineer answered. "The drop ship is in rather good shape for its age. Most of what I have to do now is diagnostic."

"Are we actually going to take that relic down to the surface?" Ezra said distastefully, honestly wishing that the idea was not being taken seriously.

"Live a little Ezra," Vin retorted, more than eager to take the ship out for a flight and not about to let Ezra cast any doubts in Chris’ mind regarding the sensibility of it.

"It’s perfectly safe," Julia assured him before giving her lover a devilish look. "Besides, you know that I won’t let you get on any ship which I think is unsafe, when you could plunge through the atmosphere and burn up in to a crispy critter long before you even felt your skin fry." She capped off that colorful description with a cheesy smile.

"Thank you." Ezra frowned sarcastically. "That makes me feel so much better."

"It’s going to make you feel even better to know that I’m requesting to stay here." She winked at him conspiratorially. "Captain, I’d like to continue going over the Sulaco. If we intend to tow her back to Deep Space 5 and then eventually return her to Earth, I really need to make an in depth analysis of her systems."

Chris did not know whether he liked to be on the surface without the engineer but then decided that there was probably little need for her to accompany them. Besides, in all truth, he would prefer it if someone remained on board the vessel, especially if some misfortune did befall them. With the atmosphere of Fury 361 preventing transporters from being engaged, it was sensible that someone stayed behind with the runabout in the instance they required deliverance. Chris doubted that there would be anything dangerous at an abandoned prison facility but there was no reason to leave anything to chance.

"Alright," Chris conceded. "Ezra, assign one of your security team to her while she’s on board. No one is staying anywhere alone." He declared.

"Are you sure?" Ezra glanced at Julia anxiously, trying not to let personal concern cloud his professionalism but sometimes it was hard to keep both separate.

"Yes," Julia nodded confidently. "I’ll be fine. Besides, I get to take this place a part at my leisure. How much fun is that?"

*********

This was almost mind numbingly boring, Lieutenant Atwater thought as he and Ensign Angel walked through the endless corridors that seemed to run through the length and breadth of the Sulaco. Most of the ship was dedicated to the massive engines that took it from one corner of the galaxy to another. It amazed Atwater that ships travelled this way once, spending years just getting to their destination. He supposed part of his problem was the fact that he was spoiled by modern conveniences. How could he possibly imagine a trip of years when warp speed made travel across millions of miles take no more than weeks? Still, it did not alter the fact that he was still required to inspect this ship from head to toe.

Unlike the Maverick with its well lit corridors and its desire to make its innards as non-claustrophobic as possible, the Sulaco was the exact opposite. Once they had moved away from the residential focus of the ship, past the bridge, the steel decked corridors disappeared into one filled with gratings, overhanging bulkheads exposed conduits and dark shadows. Lots of dark shadows. The walls seemed to close in on them as they walked along the dimly lit passageway and Atwater wondered if it was just him or did the air seemed to be stale and thin. He knew that it was mostly likely him because the temperature and the air flow in this part of the ship was the same in this corner of the Sulaco as it was elsewhere. Not to mention, his younger companion seemed unperturbed by it at all..

Angel, she called by no other was of Asian extraction. She was no fresh rookie out of the Academy and was edging closer and closer to her first promotion. There was just enough of idealism left in her that had not been bled out by the cynicism of security work for her to look upon this assignment with enthusiasm. Give it a couple of years, Atwater thought to himself and the job would erode it well away. They were travelling down a maintenance corridor near the place where the drop ship was normally stored when suddenly the path diverged into separate passages. Somehow, he was not up to expending the time of searching each one together when the same job could be done by both of them at the same time since the Chief had been pretty adamant about leaving no stone unturned during their inspection of the Sulaco. 

"We should split up." He stated. 

"Is that a good idea?" Angel asked, unhappy about diverging from the Chief’s orders, even a little. There had been something in the way he had instructed them to stay together which gave the young woman pause in light of Atwater’s decision to split up. Ezra Standish was no alarmist but he when he made it specific for them to stay together; there was usually a good reason for it.

"Look," he grumbled showing her the tricorder. "We’ve gone through half the ship and spotted nothing so far. Whatever happened in this place, we missed it."

"Alright," Angel conceded, aware that he could make it an order if he wished. "I’ll take the left and you take the right."

"Good girl," Atwater responded with just enough condescension in his vice to ensure that the young woman was eager to leave him behind. Without say a further word; Angel took off down the right corridor.  

Once she had gone, Atwater made rapid progress down the corridor on his own. The usual reading emerged, indicating nothing but emptiness. As he progressed forward, nearing the hangar bay, the corridor became larger with higher ceilings and he could see the light emanating from the flight deck. He looked down at his tricorder to study the readings of his sweep when suddenly; he saw something that made him freeze in his tracks. At first, he was uncertain of what it was, except that it hung protruding almost a foot outward and attached to some large conduits that only a fluke of light had allowed him to see it at all.  

He took a stealthy step forward and examined the object, which he knew without doubt to be some kind of an egg. A thin film of moisture rested on its leathery surface and though it was dark, the translucence of the texture made it possible for him to see its contents inside. He could make out very little except a vague shape that seemed to pulse with life at his attention. Fascinated, he glanced at his tricorder, wondering why it had not registered. Perhaps the device was malfunctioning and he shook it just for good measure. However, instead of correcting himself, he was rewarded with a hiss of sound that resembled gasses escaping from some pent up location. 

Atwater looked up and saw that the egg had unsealed. Thick rivulets of noisome material was oozing out of the open orifice and as Atwater stared mesmerized by the pulsing life that was peeking its long digits through the biological sheath it was presently encased. It occurred to him at that instant that this was probably what had the Chief so anxious and started to withdraw. Whether or not the creature about to emerge realized the reason for his retreat, it was not about to take the chance of letting him leave. With almost lighting reflexes, it sprung out of its enclosure and landed squarely on Atwater’s face. 

Atwater barely had time to scream and scrambled frantically for his phaser when he felt the creature’s tail began coiling around his throat and its digits pressing harder into his skull. It was only when he felt something wet and slimy sliding towards his mouth that he was reduced to raw panic but by then it was too late. 

Far too late.

Part Eight

Time seemed to edge faster to its destination when one did not wish it to arrive. This was the way Ezra Standish felt the more it drew closer and closer for the drop ship launch. Although he still lived with the hope that the powers that be, specifically, the Captain would come to his senses and take the runabout, that hope never materialized and the closer the hour neared to their departure, Ezra began resigning himself to the situation. It was not that he did not trust Julia’s ability as an engineer when she claimed that the drop ship was flight worthy but rather that he relied too much on his internal senses that at the moment, they were telling him that there was danger.

Despite the fact that everything Ellen Ripley had claimed to have taken place on LV427 had occurred almost four hundred years ago and on a planet far away from here, there were still aspects of this curious tale that felt unfinished. The fact that the prison had closed shortly after the EEV had arrived was too much of a coincidence for Ezra, not to mention the electrical fire that had caused the ejection to begin with.  

The Sulaco was old and constructed of outdated technology but Ezra did not have to be an engineer to know that for its time, it was state of the art. Electrical fires did not start without good reason and as of yet, he had not determined what had caused the fire. The cryogenic section where the fire had taken place was no good to him because much had been jettisoned when the capsules were moved into the EEV. Ezra had examined the cryogenic chambers and found nothing out of the ordinary other than the fact that a few of the capsules had been missing but that correlated with what they knew already. What disturbed him however, was what he found on the floor of the cryogenic chamber floor. It was enough to take him straight to the Captain with his discovery. 

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Chris stared at the security officer sternly; aware that Ezra had more than a few objections about going to the surface in the drop ship and trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he was not over reacting just a little. 

"I would not bring it to you otherwise." Ezra remarked, hiding his annoyance at Chris even asking him that question. He would not have brought anything to Chris if there were any doubt in his mind about the validity of his information. "There was definite evidence of molecular acid in the cryogenic chamber. I do not know exactly what happened but obviously an alien presence caused the fire and the EEV to eject." 

"Have your security team found any signs of this alien, assuming it exists after 400 years?" Chris asked skeptically. They were in the hangar bay and even as he was having this discussion with Ezra, the others were packing the drop ship preparing to leave. While Chris was not about to dismiss Ezra by any means, he felt that the security chief might be a little too cautious in this instance. 

"No Sir but Ripley’s narration declared that the eggs in the hold of the Nostromo could have been there for quite some time. These creatures may be extremely long lived. It might explain why the prison facility was abandoned." 

"Ezra," Chris took a deep breath and tried to hide his impatience with the subject. "If there was a living specimen down there, do you honestly think the Weyland Yutani corporation would have left it there? They were determined to gain possession of the alien and were willing to kill to get it. I seriously doubt that there is anything left there to find and even so, we are not going down there with old style projectile weapons, we’re going down there with Starfleet phasers. Whatever is waiting down there, we can handle it."

"I am certain that your ancestor and his companions felt the same way," Ezra found himself retorting even though he knew he was probably pushing too hard. "Let's hope it does not end the same way for us." 

"Any other objections Commander?" Chris said coldly, ignoring Ezra’s insubordination because of their friendship. 

"No Sir," Ezra responded tautly. 

"Good," Chris retorted and turned away sharply, not wishing to continue this conversation any more. He knew that Ezra was right to be cautious but nothing could be learnt if they stayed up here and unless they made a surface landing of Fiorina, they would never uncover what had happened to Ellen Ripley and Chris really needed to know. It was necessary that someone knew the truth for justice to be done because of late, there did not seem to be much of it going around.

For such a noble cause, a little risk was worth the price of the paying.

***********

It was almost time to leave and Ezra gathered his security team together in order to select one of them to stay behind with Julia. After what he had just discovered in the cryogenic chamber, there was no way he was leaving her on board the Sulaco alone without any protection. Even though the Chief Engineer was more than capable of taking care of herself, she had a less than suspicious nature that could place her at a disadvantage should she be in trouble. Ezra preferred she remained in the company of someone a little more cynical about taking things at faith value and would be trained to look into the shadows because Julia clearly preferred the light. 

"Ty," Ezra looked in the direction of the Lieutenant who seemed somewhat distracted not to mention he was sporting a fair bruise on his forehead. "What pray tell happened to you?"

Atwater shifted uncomfortably on his feet and met Ezra’s gaze a few seconds later. "I bumped my head while I was searching through one of the hanger bay corridors. Must have hit it on a large conduit or something. The place is full of them." 

Ezra stared at him a long time, feeling something tickle at the back of his mind but unfortunately, his own patience was stretched thin with the Captain’s behavior that he did not give it much credence and took Atwater at his word. "Next time, be more careful." He warned. "We will not be in the vicinity of a surgeon for some time. Do you think you are up to remaining on the ship?" 

"Sure Chief," Atwater responded unable to deny that the opportunity to remain on board the Sulaco was not unwelcomed. His head was throbbing and his stomach did not feel very good. Though he could still do his job, he would prefer it if he did not have to face the ordeal of landing on Fury 361 on that relic of a drop ship the captain intended taking down to the surface.

"Good," Ezra nodded. "Chief Engineer Pemberton is staying on board to conduct further analysis of the Sulaco so you are to provide her with an escort. I do not want her going anywhere on board this ship alone, is that understood?"

Something tried to resurface through the fog of Atwater’s memory but it refused to come, something about not being alone. It slipped out of his grasp the more he tried to remember and in the end, Atwater merely decided that if it wanted to stay buried so desperately perhaps it was not worth worrying about anyway. "Yes Sir. I’ll make sure she’s safe." He said with some measure of a pride a second later.

Everyone knew the relationship Ezra Standish shared with Chief Engineer Pemberton and Ezra would only leave someone behind he really trusted to guard her life. To think that the Chief had thought of him first gave Ty Atwater a good feeling.

 "I will hold you to that Mr. Atwater," Ezra threw him a confident smile. "The rest of you will accompany the landing party to the surface. The Captain," Ezra paused as he forced his anger towards Chris to some place a lot less obvious because it did not do for a senior officer to reveal his doubt regarding the captain to junior crewmembers, before speaking again. "The Captain believes that the facility is unoccupied. While there is no evidence to indicate that he is wrong, there is no evidence to prove he is right either, so we will proceed with extreme caution." 

Atwater barely heard the words his commanding officer were speaking because his mind had returned to the same place it had been visiting regularly ever since he had awoken in that empty corridor, feeling this hoarseness in his throat and the sore contusion on his head where he had fallen. He remembered entering the darkened confines and then seeing something, he was not sure what before the world suddenly enveloped him in darkness with such potency he could not breathe and then there was nothing. Yet instinct told him that it was vitally important that he remembered before it was too late.  

If it was not already. 

**********

The engines hummed as much as something that required high-octane chemical fuel to burn could hum anyway. It was a harsher sound that the warp engines which had a more fluid feel to it while this had edges and definite vocal shape though Vin would be hard pressed to explain what that meant to someone who did not know how to listen. However, like every pilot that had ever sat behind the controls of their chosen mode of travel, Vin accustomed himself to all the nuances of the drop ship’s rumble as the engines finally kicked into life. Like most vehicles, this one did not appreciate a cold start and so the process of taking off had to be gradual. It did not take him long to study the controls and though this craft was no starship, it was nonetheless a complex business to master it. Fortunately, being Vulcan meant that he was able to process information a great deal faster than humans and nowhere was the trait more useful then in instances such as these. 

His fingers moved over the controls swiftly, having memorized where everything was and what it did prior to this moment. His enthusiasm made him an even faster study than usual because Vin did not care so much about going to Fiorina, but rather getting there. He knew that it was important for Chris to go to the surface of the planet and therefore encouraged it, aware that something needed to take the captain’s mind from the dark place it was presently resided at the moment. Although, he was not entirely certain that a prison facility with too many secrets of its own was entirely the best idea. He went through all the pre-flight preparations while at the same time hearing the movement of the others behind him as they set up inside the main passenger bay.

 "Hey." Alex suddenly appeared next to him as she entered the small cockpit and slid into the co-pilot’s seat. "How’s she doing?"

"She purrs." He grinned, feeling even more complete now that Alex was at his side. 

"You do love your toys." She smiled at him as she shifted into her seat, as if trying it on for size. "I might stay up here with you when we take off. To tell you the truth it’s getting a little frosty back there." She glanced over her shoulder as if she could see through the closed cockpit door before regarding him once more.

"Chris and Ezra?" Vin hazarded a guess.

"Yeah." She nodded with an unhappy frown on her face. "Ezra’s not happy about going down there in this but I don’t think its just the drop ship," Alex said quickly before Vin felt too guilty about insisting that they take the drop ship to the surface. "I think he’s uneasy about what’s waiting down there for us. You know Ezra, he sees danger in unanswered questions." 

"I know Ezra," Vin nodded and started to wonder if perhaps he had been a little bit foolish about taking the drop ship to the surface. He would love to take this craft out but not at the expense of the crew, especially if Ezra was right and he almost always was. "Thing is, he usually has a good reason to be." Forcing away the disappointment, Vin turned to Alex. "Maybe I ought to talk to Chris about taking the runabout." 

"No," Alex stopped him before he went any further. "I don’t think it will do any good. We’re barely here for him as it is. All he’s been doing since we heard that narrative of Ripley’s is to go through her things and Hicks. Its like he’s searching for something." 

"He needs to know that he’s doing something right Alex," Vin explained, understanding the captain a great deal more than anyone because of their close friendship. "He couldn’t save Adam and Sarah. Hell he can’t even prove that their deaths were not accidental. You’ve seen the communication logs, he’s been talking to investigators and anyone who will listen at Starfleet Headquarters about the possibility of it being murder. So far, the most he’s got from them is an acknowledgement of something peculiar taking place on board the shuttle before the accident but nothing that could be considered murder. This is something he can prove, something he can show Starfleet happened. Its not because he’s obsessed, its because he feels that if he can’t do right by Sarah and Adam at least he can do right by those people who died at LV427." 

Alex stared at him and realized how different he was from the shy man who had first arrived on Maverick months ago. He had shed the insecurity of being different and now embraced the person he was without fear of recriminations from either the Vulcans or the humans he served with. With his new sense of security, he had come out of his shell dramatically and though he would always be a quiet personality, he was also the bravest, most sincere, not to mention unswervingly loyal being she had ever encountered. It was good to know that part of his awakening had to do with their friendship. When they had first met, it was she who provided him support through those difficult formative months on board the Maverick, now it was he who kept the demons away from her and around Vin at least, Alex did not feel the need to be quite so tough. 

"When did you get so wise?" She teased. 

"We Vulcans mature a lot faster." He grinned turning back to the controls. "Of course, I still don’t get Buck’s fascination with seeing a woman in thong but I figure it will happen soon enough." 

"And we all wait in anticipation for that day." Alex chuckled. "So, how long until take off?"  

"Another twenty minutes or so and we’re ready to go." He replied, now that the tender moment between them had passed.

"I’ll go tell the Captain." Alex said pushing herself out of the chair, uttering a slight groan of displeasure as she did so because she was starting to get comfortable. "He wants to get under way as soon as possible."

*********

She was right.

Chris didwant to leave immediately. No sooner than after Alex had informed him that the pre-flight preparations were almost completed, Chris was barking orders left right and centre to the landing party to move at double time so that they could be ready to leave as soon as the Vulcan was done. Ezra had restrained himself from showing any more opposition to their plans because it appeared the Captain was not about to change them on his account. The security chief took personal charge of the weapon cache they would be taking to Fury 361 because he was leaving nothing to chance. If indeed the facility was what it was meant to be, abandoned and benign then he would be the first one to concede to the Captain that he had over reacted. If however, it was not an over reaction, if there was something down there, then they would at least be prepared to face it. Not only did Ezra fill the drop ship with phaser rifles but he also restocked the drop ship from the Sulaco’s arsenal.  

The weapons he had found in the armory though primitive in comparison to the phaser and phaser rifles that he had brought from the Maverick were still very effective. The lack of atmosphere in the ship had kept the weapons well preserved with almost no deterioration taking effect on the metal or any of the chemical compounds that made it work. Ezra checked each one carefully before putting them inside the drop ship as a contingency if anything should go wrong. For the duration of their pre launch preparations, Ezra and the captain gave each other a wide berth.

"I'll be fine." Julia reassured Ezra as he was about to board the drop ship with the others. She could see through the facade of cautious and indifferent warnings he was issuing her, just how uncomfortable he was about having her stay here. However, the personal of Commander Standish would not allow him to show it. Still, Julia knew that ever since their encounter with Q where she had been for a few hours dead, Ezra had been doubly protective of her. Julia still had difficulty envisioning that for a while she had been dead to her friends and chose to deal with the whole episode by thinking of it as little as possible, but she could not expect Ezra to forget how it must have felt.  

"I promise," she said taking his hand and holding to her heart. "I will not go anywhere without Mr. Atwater here." She glanced at the somewhat pale Lieutenant who offered Ezra a salute to indicate that he was just as determined to follow that order. 

"See that you do." Ezra said gruffly, not wanting to fuss but could not shake the feeling that there was danger in this whole situation.

"Julia," Chris made himself heard as he ushered the rest of the security team into the craft. "You sure you're going to be okay here?" The captain asked.

"Like I said," Julia sighed. "I'll be fine. You guys get going. See if you can land us that synthetic." 

"You bet. We can write our paper together." Alex grinned as she walked up the ramp. "Captain, I'm going to take the co-pilot's seat if that's okay with you." She asked as she prepared to disappear into the hull.

"Sure," Chris nodded. "Go ahead." 

"Hey," Vin's voice spoke up once more through the com badge, with more than a note of playfulness in it. "Do I have to start honking the horn? Day light is a wasting."

A small ripple of laughter followed suit and Chris rolled his eyes. "Hang on to your britches there pard, we're coming." He drawled.

"I might remind you Lieutenant," Ezra retorted as he started walking towards the ramp, sealing his departure from Julia with a little kiss on the lips as she waved good bye. "That there is no daylight on board a space ship."

"Killjoy." Vin muttered back.

"Good luck!" Julia called out as she and Lieutenant Atwater watched the rest of the Mavericks' crew disappear up the narrow step ramp into the belly of the drop ship. She could see Vin through the cockpit window. The helmsman smiled at her and waved, just as Alex moved past him and placed herself into the seat next to him. Despite herself, Julia felt a sense of loss at not accompanying them and knew that she was being foolish. She had work to do and so much of it that she probably would not even have time to miss her friends and Ezra.

Besides, they would be back before she knew it.

***********

"We're in Vin." Chris informed the helmsman by way of his com badge after pulling the ramp and hatch close, sealing them inside. 

"Everyone strapped in?" Vin's voice filled the passenger bay through his communicator. "This will be a bumpy ride and I'm not going anywhere until everyone is secured." As much as he wanted to begin this flight, he was absolutely serious about that statement. He was risking no one's life just to satisfy a personal whim. 

Chris, who was last to be seated, immediately fastened the safety belt around his body and noticed everyone else checking their fastenings in one way or another following Vin's statement. A few seconds passed before it was decided that everyone had taken the necessary precautions. 

"We're secure." Chris spoke up on all their behalf a moment later. 

"As much as anyone could be in this crate." Ezra frowned.

"Where's your sense of adventure Chief?" Lieutenant Sue Collins grinned at her commanding officer. The blond was a veteran security officer whom Ezra had rescued from a lesser assignment on one of the colony worlds was one of the few people who had ever played him to a draw. Her quick thinking had secured her a place on the Maverick and Ezra liked her because she was never afraid to speak her mind.  

Although he had yet to decide whether that was always such a good thing. 

"I must have left it in my other uniform." The security officer remarked dourly. 

"Prepare for drop sequence." Vin announced once more and everyone fell silent with anticipation as the journey prepared to begin.  

Though they could see none of it happening, they could hear and feel what was taking place outside the passenger bay. The huge clamps which had the drop ship firmly in its grasp began to move with a loud hiss, shaking them in their seats for a moment before they accustomed themselves to the forward momentum of its mechanics and depressing hydraulics. The ship slid along the enormous titanium rails supporting it until it was removed from the berth where it had remained for the better part of four hundred years. The rails carried it swiftly and smoothly to the other side of the deck, towards the drop chute in the centre of the hangar floor.

By now, Julia and Atwater would be continuing their observation of the craft's departure from a pressurized viewing room on the other side of the hangar wall. The drop ship soon reached the chute door. Previously, all that could be seen of this huge opening was nothing more than the fine seams on the steel floor. However, as the drop ship prepared to leave the Sulaco, the clamps holding the small craft came to a stand still with a sudden jolt and those previously unseen doors slid open loudly. Once they were fully apart, the opening revealed the illumination of Fiorina below them as well as creating something of a whirlwind as the deck began to depressurize.  

"Ten." Vin's countdown to their drop began echoing through the insides of the small ship. 

"Nine.  

Eight.  

Seven.  

Six.  

Five.  

Four.  

Three.  

Two.  

One.  

Marks away." Vin concluded with calm, even though everything that happened after would not be.  

The clamps released the drop ship creating a great explosion of sound as the vessel was sent plunging through the floor into the air below. It would fall for several hundred meters, before Vin would engage the drop ship's engines and guide safely it to the planet under its own power.  

To Fury 361 and all its secrets.

Part Nine

When the drop ship entered the atmosphere of Fury 361, it was quickly discovered that to be no less redeeming from the surface as it was from space. Penetrating the thick shield of cumulous that encased the world, the skies that surrounded them were just as grey and dour as the clouds left behind. The landscape below seemed as colorless and from the air, it was difficult to tell where Fiorina's brackish seas began and where the barren landmasses ended. Both seemed to be painted with the same pallid brush and one could imagine how easy it was for those first surveyors of Fiorina to deemed the only appropriate use for it was as a prison facility.

The drop ship performed remarkably well for a craft that had not seen use in four hundred years. The ride from the Sulaco had been anything but smooth but this was to be expected with the method of the craft's departure from its mother ship. Once entering the atmosphere, the drop ship managed to give them a tolerable ride which was no easy feat considering the fact that the controls read high winds sweeping through the atmosphere outside. Not to mention the perpetual rain storm that always seem to be coming down hard on the planet, no matter what corner of it a visitor may chose to take shelter. The climate of Fiorina was a mix of rain, humidity and wind that had created a lusty amalgam of sweltering heat that could be imagined by all members of the crew before they even stepped out of the drop ship.

The smooth descent evolved into some turbulence the closer they reached the surface and using the coordinates found on the Sulaco which detailed the exact point of landing for the EEV, the drop ship had little trouble finding the prison facility on the grim world. The EEV had been programmed to choose its landing site based on proximity to human civilization and though the trip through the atmosphere had been fraught with disaster, for most part it had completed its mission successfully. The drop ship struggled against the rushing winds, determined to make them pay for every inch of ground it drew closer to as it attempted to land. Fortunately, for one such as Vin who was accustomed to flying almost more than a million tons of starship whilst wrestling with spacial phenomena, gravimetric disturbances and close encounters with the event horizons of everything from neutrons stars to black holes, this was moderately challenging, nothing more.

As the drop ship lowered them into the prison facility, they managed to get a vague view of it. The mining facility had been closed but the evidence of it still remained in the abandoned foundry and steel works. The prison itself was a small part of the facility and it appeared most of the space had been delegated to the commercial activities that had taken place here. However, a precise view of everything was not possible, the sheets of rain battering the abandoned structures, made visibility poor and the humidity obscured everything beyond a short range of their landing site. The landing pad was located well away from the mining centre and was a short distance from the prison itself.

Landing struts extended outwards as the craft slowly descended onto the bitumen paved landing pad, now running with almighty cracks from centuries of disuse and neglect. The heavy indentations of the struts dug into the crumbling tar for a few seconds before the weight crushed it as far as it would go and then allowed the ship to steady itself after. The wind was momentarily drowned by the sound of power engines roaring and across the complex, its arrival echoed through the empty rooms and silent corridors. Twenty minutes after the ship finally made its landing, the hatch opened and its occupants started to make their exit.

Chris wiped the rain from his face once he stepped out of drop ship into open air. His eyes immediately began to survey the area and found things no different from when he had viewed it from a loft. It was just as humid and the rain was still as heavy, only now he had a chance to experience it first hand. It was coming down hard but the heat of the place was such that the water against his skin felt pleasant rather than it did cold. The facility looked every much as abandoned and aged as he imagined, he could hear what was probably and unlocked door swinging close back and forth somewhere and the shutters belonging to a window in the nearest structure to them, was swaying pendulously in momentum to the wind.
"Captain." Alex called out as she descended behind him. The rain had plastered her jet colored hair to her face and she had to brush errant strands from her eyes as she tried to focus on the tricorder she was holding before her. "There's some kind of airborne parasite in the air." She announced with wrinkle of distaste in her face.

"Charming." Ezra Standish followed closely behind, after giving his security officers instructions to survey the immediate area. Angel, Collins and Christie spread out across the tarmac, their phaser rifles before them as they proceeded to ensure the area was secured for their Away Team. "Are they harmful?"

"Not really," Alex continued to study the readings on the tricorder, squinting the rain out of her eyes. "But they apparently feed on keratin, specially the type found in human hair. We'll have to be vaccinated against it or they'll start feeding on ours."

"Cannot we simply offer them Lieutenant Tanner as a smorgasbord offering? With those long locks of his...." Ezra grinned.

"I'll let you tell him that." Chris gave the security chief a look. "Are they harmful in any other way?" He asked, instinctively wiping his face as if he could feel the microscopic parasites on his skin already.

"No," She shook her head. "They're mostly composed of keratin. I don't detect any requirement of human tissue. I don't think they can process it."

Ensign Ian Christie, a tall young man almost as solidly built as the Canadian forests he called home, emerged from the nearby building and immediately approached the command officers. "Chief, the primary vicinity is clear."

"Thank you," Ezra responded and turned to the Captain. "Shall we Sir?"

To no one surprise, Chris was already on his way there.

**********

A short time later, they had set up camp in what appeared to be an office of some type. There was office furniture left behind, ravaged and deteriorated in the humid weather despite being away form the harsh rain and wind outside. Papers covered the floor and personal effects like a coffee mug and some pictures had been left behind. The picture had faded away beyond sepia and made those who were figured prominently in them seemed rather jaundiced. There was a communications terminal of some sort but the state of it did not give much Alex much hope for garnering anything useful from it.

During this time, she took the opportunity to vaccinate everyone from the ravages of the micro-organism that would soon turn them all quite devoid of hair if allowed to rampage unchecked. Fortunately, Nathan had been adept enough to provide every kind of protection he could possibly imagine they might need and Alex was never more grateful to find a remedy that could be injected through means of a hypospray that would discourage their keratin feeding assailants. Ezra had asked Alex to vaccinate his security officers first so that they could be sent out for reconnaissance while the Captain decided his next move.

"They left in a hurry." Vin remarked as Alex pressed the hypospray to his skin while he was reading one of the yellowed papers in his hand. "They didn't even bother to clear out the files. I'm reading what looks to be some prisoner's record." Vin's blue eyes moved over the page. "Clemens. A medical technician or something."

"There is no way they could get a doctor out here." Chris responded automatically. "Too far away from a holo - golf course. I guess they had to make do with what they could get."

"Most of these sentences were commuted." Ezra remarked, going through the same papers himself. "According to the dates, a lot of these men had served their time in these fair surroundings but chose to remain after their sentences were done."

"That's weird." Alex retorted, moving onto the Security Chief who offered her his arm without taking his eyes off the documentation he was reading.

"Not necessarily," he explained. "These men were double Y chromosome offenders, rapists, serial killers, multi-homicide criminals. Their opportunities on Earth with that attached to their record would have been most inconvenient. They may have chose to remain here simply because it would be less daunting than attempting to reintegrate into society."

"Ezra's right." Chris agreed with the security chief's assessment. "The penal system in those days was next to barbaric, there was no such thing as rehabilitation, not really. Maybe what they couldn't find on Earth, they found here, where no one could bother them."

"I suppose." She shrugged and vaccinated herself finally. Once she had depressed the hyprospray's contents into her arm, she turned her attention to the computer terminal that might hold some of the answers to what had happened here after the EEV had crashed.

"Do you think you can get that thing working?" Chris asked as he saw her pulled the CPU from its niche in the wall.

"Ewww!" She jumped back startled as her efforts send some rather big, large roaches scurrying about from the place where she had dislodged the terminal. "I hate those things." She grumbled.

Vin looked at her in astonishment. "You're kidding." The urge to smile was overwhelming but he held his amusement in check, aware that it could land him a knuckle sandwich.

"I don't like bugs." Alex complained. "Especially big ones."

"You are a science officer!" Ezra exclaimed. "You were the one who dissected that one foot slug on Primus 2 with green ooze all over your hands and you are complaining about insects, especially small insects?"

"Sometimes I even hate the ones in uniform." She looked at him sweetly.

"As riveting as this conversation is," Chris cut in impatiently, "can we get back to business?"

"Sorry Sir," Alex apologized and returned to her examination of the CPU. Pulling the metal case off the internal works, she surveyed the state of the components and their levels of degradation. "I'll have to change some of these wires," she remarked, talking more to herself than the others. "There's been a lot of moisture deterioration. I think the chips are fine though, these things were made to last, especially out here. They're also made to accept generic parts, nothing too specific for the sake of expediency I suppose. Nothing worse than being so far from Earth and not have any spare parts."

"So we'll be able to get something off them." Chris said encouraged by this news.

"I think so." Alex fingered the collection of wires and damaged components attached to the faded circuit board. She was certain that she could scrounge out the parts needed to repair the device to retrieve the data from the hard disk. However, in the event she was unsuccessful, Alex did not believe that all was entirely lost. If necessary, she would rig the hard disk directly to the tricorder and let the sophisticated instrument create the interface necessary to download all the information necessary to answer the captain's burning questions. The tricorder's strengths was it ability for adaptive interface and was equal to the task with even the most complex alien hardware, far more formidable than this relic from another age. "If I can't get this thing going, I'll just link a direct interface from the CPU to the tricorder and download the information. I would prefer to try and get it running first though."

"Fine." Chris responded although he was eager to learn what had happened to Ripley and her companions after coming to this desolate place. Still, there was a great deal of prison to explore and there was no reason to let the present obstacles prevent him from beginning that particular tour. "I'm going to take a look around."

"Where you go, so shall I fearless leader." Ezra remarked as he stood up from the desk on which he had been sitting reading the hard-copied remnants of the prison records.

"Ezra," Chris grumbled wishing the security officer were not so damn adamant about these things some times. Chris wanted to make his explorations alone but the look in Ezra's eyes told him plainly that Ezra was not going to let him wander about alone. "I'll be fine. There isn't anything here to worry about."

"With all due respect Sir," Ezra met his gaze directly and the set of the southerner's jaw was one Chris recognized as bald stubbornness to relent. "I do not believe we have the data to make that kind of determination as of yet."

Vin chose wisely to stay out of the confrontation, deciding that the best way to remain friends with both was to remember that in the chain of command. He ranked below either Chris or Ezra and was not about to meddle in what was clearly an issue of protocol, besides, he did not think Chris ought to walking around on his own either. While his fears were not based on any alien creature jumping out of the shadows, he was always in favor of someone watching the Captain's back. Since Ezra had volunteered, Vin could stay close to Alex because he was not eager for her to be alone here either.

"Ezra, you sound like my mother." Chris pointed out.

"Well captain, your behavior is somewhat chi......"

Fortunately, Ezra was interrupted before he was allowed to finish that particular remark. Lieutenant Collin's voice echoed through from Ezra's com badge. "Commander Standish, come in."

All discussion was cut short as three sets of eyes turned to Ezra as he tapped on his com badge to respond. "Standish here." He said shortly. "What is it Sue?"

"We found something." She announced.

"Well do not leave us in the dark," Ezra returned sharply. "What pray tell have you discovered on your wanderings through this charming facility?" His sarcasm was lost on no one.

"The Emergency Ejection Vehicle Sir." Collins responded promptly. "The EEV."

*********

She did not know how long after they had gone that she finally ventured from the bridge. The first order of business once she had the place to herself was to run a diagnostic program on all systems on board the Sulaco. Since their arrival on the old Earth ship, Julia had activated the primary systems like life support and climate control to serve their immediate needs. However, now that the time permitted, she could conduct a more detailed inspection of the Sulaco and see how capable the vessel was to make the journey home to Earth. There was no doubt in her mind that the Sulaco would make its final trip home after so many centuries lingering in the wilderness. Historians and engineers alike would be clamoring to see the ship, a remnant of a bygone era. So few of the vessels from the mid 21^st century had survived the Third World War which was part of the reason Zefram Cochrane was forced to construct his warp ship from an old ICBM.

Julia could not deny that she was excited to work on the Sulaco because once the vessel returned to Earth, it would be thrust into the hands of so many others and out of her reach forever. More specialized teams would be assigned to studying it and her own responsibilities on the Maverick would ensure Julia would never get the opportunity to study the ship as she did now. This was her one chance of touching a piece of history and though she had denied herself the chance to accompany the captain on his quest to Fiorina, Julia was convinced she had made the better choice for herself. Besides, she doubted that anything Chris Larabee could find on the abandoned mining facility of Fiorina 361 could compare to the Sulaco itself.

Although Ezra had instructed Ty Atwater to stay close to her, Julia had given the security officer permission to get some rest. Shortly after the drop ship had gone to Earth and Julia had received transmission from Vin Tanner informing her they had arrived safely at their destination, she had noticed that Lieutenant Atwater did not at all seem well. Julia was fairly confident that they were alone on the Sulaco and doubted that anything was going to emerge from the shadows. Nevertheless she promised to carry her phaser on her at all times and sent Atwater to the runabout to lie down. His color seemed off and though he was trying his best to hide it, she was certain he was feeling a lot worse than he let on.

Her diagnostic of the main systems indicated that there were minor failures in some areas that had been caused mostly by the lack of maintenance. Interfacing with the computer self-maintenance routine, she was able to discern what needed doing and discovered that a healthy supply of components were available in the Sulaco's stores. Like every military organization through history, the Colonial Marines bureaucracy operated in more or less the same way; never pay for one when you can get two. Leaving the bridge, she went to the storeroom and found a wealth of supplies for every possible failure the Sulaco might experience.

Julia collected what she needed and set out on her personal quest to conduct repairs on the systems registering malfunctions. Setting out with her tool kit, she began replacing components in sectors that needed it. A fuse here, a blow circuit there, the list was really quite minor. Julia had to commend the engineers of the day who had put the Sulaco together. They had built the craft to weather any kind of storm and despite its age, the Sulaco had survived the last four centuries in relatively good shape. Time slipped past without her even being aware of it and before she knew it, she had completed all but one item on her repair list.

Entering the narrow passageway near the hanger, she could see the bright glare of the fluorescent lights emanating from the deck as she stood in the dimly lit passenger deck. According to her list, there was a blown power relay somewhere along the lines of electrical conduit that might go some way to explaining why the lights were so dim. The level of luminance was so dark that everything was covered in shadows and in a corridor composed mostly of cast iron, it was just plain dangerous to go bumping into things.

Julia found the power relay that was malfunctioning and spent the next ten minutes installing new components in place of the old. Her fingers moved swiftly through the tangle of wires and switches as she conducted her repairs and suddenly the narrow passageway was filled from end to end with clarifying white light. Shadows disappeared and the strange lengths that bounced dark as some things bounced light, suddenly gained definition. Until the cold glare of artificial lighting, it seemed no where as sinister and Julia felt infinitely proud of her accomplishment.

Until she saw the unsealed egg attached to a conduit.

At first, she did not understand what it was. The engineer in her still trying hard to identify the shape to something that might have come to the ship. It was not until she had drew close enough to be able to stare down the emptiness of the biological container, did she realize the full magnitude of the situation that had suddenly come out of nowhere and swallowed her whole. Julia felt her heart pounding in her ears as she studied the unsealed egg, covered in greasy resinous material that reminded of clear lubricating grease that she sometimes used in her work. It trickled down the sides of the egg, hardened to almost the strength of epoxy.

Her palm was sweating when she reached for her com badge and tapped it lightly. "Lieutenant Atwater." Julia called out.

There was no answer.

The fear started to become more palpable. It became something she could feel pressing up against her almost as closely as the corridor around her. She could feel it snake up her spine like icy tendrils and for the first time, she began to develop an acute empathy for Ripley's terrifying ordeal.

"Atwater!" She hissed.

It occurred to her that he might not answer because he was unable and suddenly her fear rescinded momentarily for a stronger emotion; fear for his life. She left her tools where she stood and bolted out of the corridor, her hand clutching her phaser tight in her palm as she emerged into the hangar. Her eyes searched the deck and found her destination soon enough. The runabout was sitting inconspicuously in the middle of the hangar, which seemed a great deal larger now that the drop ship was gone. Julia noticed the doors of the runabout were closed and wondered if Atwater had sensed danger and sealed himself within. Impossible. She told herself. He would never do that without her. Julia quickly arrived at the vessel and activated the hatch. The doors slid open and she entered without thinking twice. In retrospect, she supposed she should have prepared herself.

"Oh Ty," Julia stared at the grisly scene before her and asked mutely. "Why didn't you ask for help?"

The scene before her was nothing less than grisly. There was blood across the panels, on the floor and on the seats. Atwater was lying on his side against the floor, his face a rictus of unbelievable agony. His gold colored uniform was blood red and lying near his stomach almost like some vile afterbirth were what was left of his internal organs from the beneath the sternum. The scent of blood was overpowering and Julia almost wretched in disgust. The runabout was made to keep its occupants safe from a warp field. Sealing oneself inside was as close to a self-contained environment as one could get. She could imagine him coming in here, attempting to find a reason for his failing health. Sometime after sealing himself in here, the alien had chosen to make its emergence and the agony that Atwater must have endured would have kept him from contacting her as well as trapping his screams inside the runabout. Through the sheer panic of her thoughts, Julia wondered if he had known what was growing inside him.

Growing inside him.

The instant that thought emerged inside her mind, she heard it. No more than a foot high at the moment, it was covered in blood and flesh, most of which was Atwater's. Julia could hardly make it out except to note that it had no eyes and it moved with surprising speed. It lunged out of nowhere, spiriting straight past her and bearing its serrated teeth in defiance as Julia stumbled out of its way in shock. The creature, having been waiting for its chance to escape the runabout, did not waste it as it scrambled out of the open hatch. Julia fired her phaser at the last minute, impacting a few inches behind it and being rewarded with another angry screech before it disappeared from view.

She raced after it, cursing her poor response at allowing it to leave the runabout and left the craft just in time to see the new born enter an open grill in the floor and disappear into a maintenance shaft.

"Damn!" Julia swore angrily, unable to keep chiding herself for the next few seconds at her lack of performance. However, when her recriminations with herself had ended; Julia realized she had a bigger problem on her hands.

The alien was loose on the ship.

Part Ten

It was possible that it was raining even harder than before when the Away Team gathered in what passed for the mining facilities’ refuse dump after Lieutenant Collin’s announced what she had found during her reconnaissance sweep. Large heavy droplets consistent with a storm gaining momentum pounded the surface of everything as they emerged out into the open, splattering as they made hard contact. The wind sweeping through the air created waves of water in mid air and they could see its current by the angled descent of rainfall. Overhead, the clouds appeared thicker until no part of the pale sky could be seen at all and it felt not like morning as it was on Fiorina but rather late afternoon, almost twilight. 

Alex looked up at the sky with a troubled expression on her face, particularly after she had taken readings of the storm that was brewing. High energy particles in the atmosphere was creating an unfortunate mix she did not at all like, particularly in regards with what it would do to their communication equipment. Suddenly Alex had a good idea why Fiorina had never been considered a world worthy of colonization. Tapping the com badge on her uniform, she made an exploratory attempt to contact the Sulaco. 

"Julia, come in." She spoke up and captured the attention of everyone around her. 

She was greeted with nothing but a cackling sound that was near incoherent. "Julia," Alex rose her eyes to meet Ezra’s. "Come in."

Once again, there was only that burst of static that soon cackled away into nothingness. To be certain that it was not merely her com badge that was malfunctioning, Ezra made a similar attempt to contact the ship. He too was greeted with the same silence that had marked the end of Alex’s last attempts. 

"Why can’t we contact the ship?" Chris asked when it became clear that their communications with the Sulaco was disabled. 

"Its nothing serious," Alex immediately responded wanting to diffuse the situation before it escalated everyone’s concern into panic. "The same atmospheric properties that make transport impossible is a little more pronounced because of the present weather patterns. I would say the storms are part of it. Our communications blackout will last as long as the storms. Once it clears, it should dissipate to normal levels again." 

"What if there is an emergency?" Ezra asked immediately, not to be deterred by the simple explanations because even if it was a natural phenomenon, it did not change the fact that they were cut off from the Sulaco and the runabout until the storm ended.  

"We can always use the radio on the drop ship." Vin suggested. 

"That would only be effective if Julia is listening in on the radio. She would expect us to contact her via our com badges." The security chief retorted, pressing the issue. 

"Look," Chris let out a deep breath, not about to turn back when the EEV was only a short distance away. "Let’s not panic." He gave Ezra a warning look and continued. "The situation is far from dangerous. Communications is out but its only temporary, yes?" He glanced at Alex for confirmation. 

"Yes Sir." She nodded in response. "I estimate that we should have communications on line once the storm passes." 

"We have no idea how long that could be and in the mean time, we might run into danger." Ezra countered quickly. 

"If that happens," Chris bristled, not at all liking the adversarial stance Ezra was taking with him. "Then we will abort the mission and return to the Sulaco. However," his voice filled with open menace as he delivered a scathing rendition of the Larabee glare towards the security chief, "for the moment, there is no reason why we cannot continue our investigations. Is there not?"

"No Sir," Ezra muttered unhappily and the tension was so thick between the senior staff that for a brief instance no one spoke as the moment dissolved.  

"That EEV is in pretty bad shape." Vin spoke up after the pause, playing mediator as he attempted to soothe the escalating tempers between his captain and the security chief.  

The helmsman could tell Ezra was fast reaching a point where he would refuse to back down, protocol or not. Vin knew it and Alex knew it too. When that happened, he would come right up against the brick wall of Chris Larabee’s worst and no one wanted to see that in all its horrific glory. However, one thing had come out of this. Vin secretly came to the decision that it was time he and his best friend had the conversation he had been putting off because Chris was also his captain. Even Vin could not ignore the erratic way Chris was behaving. Under normal circumstances, everything that Ezra had pointed out would have been taken with due consideration, not regarded as some obstacle to circumvent in order for Chris to get his way. 

Most of the biological refuse had been taken care of by decomposition and other natural causes and so the remainder of garbage was composed mostly of plastics, metal and other miscellaneous items that had been found to be obsolete when the facility was being dismantled. The EEV had suffered the same climatic wear although there was little evidence of rust across the hull because of the nature of the metals it had been constructed with. Where there was a largely iron component, oxidization had done its worst with rust almost completely engulfing it. There was a gaping hole in the side of the EEV and told the Away Team something of the landing it had made on Fiorina. Large dents and torn metal across the titanium hull indicated a severe crash and it was a miracle if any of its passengers had survived the landing. 

"Its been sitting out in the open for the last four hundred years." Alex responded, braving the rain as she strode into the middle of the junk pile. "In this climate, it’s a miracle it isn’t a rusted out piece of scrap." 

"I beg to differ," Ezra grumbled as he strode in after the science officer, ensuring that she did not enter the transport alone. Chris and Vin followed closely behind and the captain felt slightly annoyed that once again, his over protective officers had gone in a head of him, in their efforts to ensure that the area was safe enough for his presence. Collins remained outside in the rain, her eyes keeping close watch on the surrounding area, while the senior staff made close inspection of the dilapidated building. 

"This was one hell of a crash." Vin observed as they stepped inside the small space and were immediately confronted with the metallic smelt of rust in the air. The inside of the craft was mostly dry beyond the gaping hole in its side but the rust had penetrated deeply into the structure nonetheless. Evidence of the crash was every where, in the wiring that draped loosely over their heads, the shattered cryotubes, torn superstructure. A support beam had crashed straight though one of the tubes and the brown discoloration on the broken glass around it could only be one thing; blood. 

"Is that what I think it is?" Ezra asked as they stared at the faded residue of dried blood, now seeped well and truly into the glass that not even time could erase it. When it was fresh, it must have splattered against the glass with great force and suddenly the support beam that had crushed the cryo-tube became the leading suspect in the death that must have arisen from so much blood being spilt.

"Yes." Alex confirmed it with her tricorder and then discovered something else. Her expression turned dark and for a moment she tried to think of how to relay what she saw on the readings she had taken. Prior to leaving the Sulaco, she had downloaded all the Sulaco’s personnel records into the tricorder, in the instance, they needed to refer to it while they were on Fiorina 361. It had been nothing more than a bit of meticulous foolishness and Alex hadn’t really thought she might need it until now.  

"What is it?" Chris caught the look in her eyes a fraction faster than Vin and Ezra. 

"I’m sorry Captain," she swallowed thickly, trying to word her next sentence carefully. "The DNA residue of the blood in this cryotube matches one of the Colonial Marines." 

Chris sucked in his breath. There was no need for her to explain. The only passenger of the EEV who had been a Colonial Marine was Hicks. Turning away from her, Chris stared at the cryo-tube as everyone felt silent, trying to imagine what must be running through his mind or his heart. The Captain of the Maverick felt a deep sense of loss and futility for his ancestor, who he had never given more than a second thought before they had encountered the Sulaco. After everything that he had endured on Acheron, Chris found it incredibly unfair that Hicks would meet his end in an accident like that. Fighting aliens and escaping a thermonuclear explosion only to be crushed to death when their EEV crashed. Chances were good that Hicks probably had no idea what hit him. He would have gone to sleep in his cryotube, expecting to get home unaware that he would never wake up again. It was a far more merciful end to his being awake when the end came.

Chris supposed that was something. 

"It would have been painless." Alex quickly spoke up, having no evidence to that effect at all but feeling the need to say something. "He was probably still in hypersleep when they crashed."

"I know," Chris said quietly. "I had hoped he made it." 

It was always going to be an impossible hope in regards to what fact they had about Fiorina and the fact that only one prisoner had left here alive. There had not been mention of any other survivors so whatever took place here, it had not only taken Hicks with it but everyone who managed to reach Fury 361 alive on the EEV, including Ripley.  

"I’m sorry Chris." Vin responded while Ezra moved deeper into the vehicle, hoping no one else had met their end as violently as Chris’ ancestor.  

"Its okay," Chris let out a deep sigh. "I never knew him to be able to mourn him." 

"Oh Alex," Ezra suddenly sung out to the science officer. "I think I may found what you were looking for." The security officer was at the far end of the EEV, standing before what appeared to be the only undamaged console panel in the entire craft. Chris could not see what Ezra was studying so closely from where he was and quickly advanced next to the security officer for a better look, like the others were doing at this moment.  

"Hell." Vin whispered as they came upon the sight of what looked like the upper half of a human body. The head, neck and one shoulder still remained intact but the rubberized skin that made up its face was distorted as if melted by heat, creating an ugly swelling around one eye. The effect was quite gruesome indeed and though they all knew that it was the fabled synthetic Alex was so eager to find, they could not help be a little repulsed its remains. 

"I take it that is one of your synthetics?" Ezra ventured a guess as Alex approached the thing. 

She nodded mutely as the remnants of her shock began to slip away and the scientist before her went to examine the find that she had been speaking of so enthusiastically to Julia earlier on. She was probably the first person in four hundred years to cast her eyes on the androids of the 21^st century to fully understand its significance. "He's probably the synthetic from the Sulaco." She mused, remembering the passenger manifest that stated his presence on board the ship.

"Looks like he didn't survive the crash any better than Hicks did." Chris responded, staring at this construct who had probably known Corporal Dwayne Hicks in person. Despite its ruined state, one had to marvel at the intricacy of the construction. When it was in its prime, Chris did not doubt that this android was capable of blending completely into human society without noticed. The Optimum Movement who had called such constructs abominations had certainly believed it and feared the unseen enemy that could exist in a life form that was so capable of being indistinguishable from humans.  

"Wait a minute...."Alex's eyes narrowed as she saw the wires and pugs attached to the ruined androids exposed innards. She followed their progress and saw that the attachments were in place in order to resurrect this android, even in his damaged state. While the EEV was most likely drained of power by now, the connections were all in place and possibly capable of functioning.

"Someone tried to power him up." She announced as she glanced over her shoulder at the Captain. "Someone may have tried to reactivate him. All the connections have been established. He was wired to the main power grid and then deactivated." She responded, scanning the make shift connection with her tricorder. The readings indicated that while the wires and conduits were aged, they appeared to be operable.  

"Four hundred years ago." Vin returned. "It couldn't possibly still work after all this time. Could it?" There was so much this android could tell them. They were all aware of that fact. Every question regarding the Sulaco’s mission could be answered by this remarkable piece of damaged technology. 

"Let's find out." Alex grinned; forgetting all about the state of the android and being more focused on reanimating it. Without wasting any time, she began transferring the attachments that led to the power grid of the EEV to her tricorder. The deutronium core that powered the device was more than capable of bringing this piece of 21^st century hardware to life. 

"What are you doing?" Chris asked even though it was more or less a foregone conclusion what she was attempting.  

"I'm seeing if I can bring him back." Alex returned as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to be doing.  

"Alex, is that the wisest course of action at this point?" Ezra asked cautiously. 

"You wanted answers Ezra," Chris quickly cut in to keep from interrupting the science officer’s work. "This thing is an eye witness to what happened to the Sulaco and very possibly what might have taken place here. If we're going to get to the bottom of this, we need to access what he knows." 

Ezra could not fault that part of the Captain’s reasoning and supposed that a story told by an android bound to obey humans was not entirely untrustworthy or unreliable information. Any response he was about to make was cut short by a sudden burst of electricity. The charge scented the air with particular odors as energy flowed through the aged wires, burning out some, rerouting through others. When the fingers attached to the android’s good arm began twitching spasmodically, Ezra knew that Alex had succeeded in bringing it back to life, in a manner of speaking. 

The android continued to twitch as energy flowed through what remained of his sense. He tilted his head back slightly as a gush of white ooze flowed out of his mouth. The action made him cough, almost as if he were alive and the humans stood back as bio-mechanical fluid sprayed lightly from his mouth. The android did not seem to notice them at first as his eyes were closed. It took a few seconds for him to recover himself enough before he opened his eyes and focused on them. One of his eyes was milky white from damage and the rubber around it was swollen, making him look even more grotesque than before as he slowly took stock of everything around him.  

"Jesus." Chris found himself whisper. 

Despite the majority of its systems being damaged, the android proved capable of having good hearing as he reacted to Chris’ voice by shifted his gaze towards the captain. Visible surprise flowed through his misshapen features as he cocked his head slightly and stared at Chris. There was recognition in his eyes but there was also confusion.  

"Hicks?" The raspy voice, watered with fluid asked after a momentary pause. 

It took Chris a second to realize that the android thought him to be his dead ancestor. The android could not be blamed for that of course, having seen the picture of Hicks’ in the computer records on the Sulaco, Chris too was quite amazed by the likeness between them both. Except for their differences in age, Chris Larabee and Dwayne Hicks might have been twins.  

"No." Chris shook his head. 

"You look like him but..." the android's eyes narrowed as he tried to explain himself. "You’re older." 

"My name is Chris Larabee, Hicks was an ancestor." Chris explained, seeing no reason to keep the truth from the android that was hardly in the position to do anything. 

"The resemblance is striking." The android answered. His voice was soft, reminding those present a little of Josiah's own deep voice with tones of sympathetic tenderness. "I don't recognize the uniform," he said perplexed as he studied all of them. "Military?" 

"United Federation of Planets." Chris replied. "You're four hundred years from where you started out." 

The android paused for a moment, taking this information. Chris would have sworn he saw sadness there if he believed it possible for a machine to feel but then he was certain Jean Luc Picard thought his second officer, Commander Data quite capable of emotion too. "Ripley is dead?" 

"Yes." Chris nodded because however she had met her end, it was still four centuries in the past.  

"So she never made it off Fury?" He remarked. 

"Did she survive the crash?" Vin asked. "By the looks of it, it was pretty bad." 

"She survived." The android answered and regarded him for a moment. "You’re not human." 

"No." Vin said with a little smile. "I’m Vulcan." 

"A planet that revolves around Eridanni." Alex explained. "Vulcans were the first aliens to make contact with Earth." 

"There is so much missing." His gaze shifted away. "I must be a relic." 

"Actually," Ezra added. "You appear to be something of a find. We have not seen the likes of you in almost four hundred years. You are going to be quite the celebrity when you return to Earth." 

"Its still there?" The android asked quietly, with a trace of hope in his voice.

"Do you know what happened to Ripley?" Chris interrupted his musings and asked. "You said she made it down here." 

"Yes." The android nodded. "She was the only one who lived. The others died in the crash." He paused a moment as he looked at Chris. "Hicks died in his cryotube. A support beam impaled him in the chest. He never regained consciousness." 

"I guessed." Chris nodded. "What about the little girl?" 

"She drowned in her tube." The android responded, holding back nothing. "The EEV crashed in the water. Newt’s cryotube filled up with water, by the time the rescue people found her, it was too late. I doubt she woke up either." 

The android closed its eyes for a moment and a grimace, Chris was certain was sorrow filled his features. The android thought about little Newt, who had been stranded on Acheron for all that time, avoiding the aliens, to be finally rescued only to die on the way home in a crash. Sometimes, this thing the humans called fate was extremely indifferent.

"I’m sorry." Alex found herself saying, feeling the same sadness over the tragedy. 

"Ripley never left here alive." Chris spoke up again. "She died here." 

"There was an alien with us." The android explained. "It had attempted to get to us in stasis when the Sulaco’s security systems kicked in and a protection grid killed it. The acid it uses for blood caused an electrical fire which was why the capsules moved to the EEV. Unfortunately it was not alone. There was another spore on the ship with us and it came down all the way. The last time I talked with Ripley, I think she suspected someone here of being infected." 

"How did it get on the Sulaco in the first place?" Ezra inquired. "If I was not mistaken, you left the colony on Acheron shortly before a thermonuclear explosion." 

"Yes," the android nodded. "The girl was taken by the aliens to the hive. Ripley went in after her and discovered the alien queen, the egg layer. The morphology of these creatures is very similar to bees, with a single female that rules the entire hive. Ripley retrieved Newt and somehow caused enough damage for the queen to escape her egg sac. She managed to cling to the drop ship when we returned to the Sulaco. It was she who left me in my current state and Ripley managed to get her of the ship by throwing her into the airlock." 

"That explains the acid burns." Chris glanced at Ezra.

"But not how there could be eggs on board." Ezra turned back to the android. "Are you saying in the short amount of time she was on board the Sulaco she managed to lay more of her progeny?"

"Their ability to breed is prolific." The android continued to explain. "They are made to survive at all costs." 

"Wonderful." Ezra muttered. "Well I believe I understand why this place was so quickly abandoned and why only one prisoner left here alive."

"Yeah," Vin nodded grimly. "One of those aliens must have got lose."

"Ripley said that there was something very unusual about this alien." The android explained. "That she had not quite seen one like it before."

"Unfortunately," Alex sighed. "We’ll never really know." 

"Perhaps you ought to access the EEV systems, it was the only sophisticated piece of equipment here," the android suggested. "It was far more efficient than anything else they had in the prison facility. If you’re after facts. That might be the place to start."

"Thank you," Chris said genuinely meaning it. "You got a name?" He asked the android, not wishing to call it nothing especially when it had been so helpful. 

"Yeah," the android nodded. "Bishop. They used to call me Bishop." 

*********

 When Julia found she was unable to contact the Captain and inform him of what was presently occurring on board the Sulaco, she decided very quickly that she had only one alternative left to her. She had to go to Fiorina herself. Julia had no idea how long the maturing period of the alien lasted but she was not about to waste any time by waiting long enough to find out. As soon as she had made her grisly find, being that of Lieutenant Atwater’s body and after her subsequent efforts to contact the Captain had met with failure, Julia knew that if she did not get off this ship, it was very possible that the alien might come looking for her. Logic dictated that the creature could not evolve in a space of a few hours so she made a few more attempts to reach the Away Team on Fury with little success.

After realising that she had no choice but to leave the Sulaco to find them, Julia returned to the runabout and found herself faced with the bloody remains of Lieutenant Atwater. For a second, Julia almost considered abandoning the idea of going to Fiorina so that she could avoid being inside the runabout but forced herself to remember that if it were she lying on there instead of Atwater, she would wanted to be regarded with a little more consideration herself. Taking a deep breath, she began the process of cleaning up the remains of blood and tissue across the floor and panels of the runabout, before replicating some kind of body bag in which to store Atwater’s body for the duration. Julia stored his body in the back of the runabout, trying not to think about those horrifying moments before his death.

Once she had tended to Lieutenant Atwater, Julia returned to the task of ensuring that the runabout was unaffected by the alien birth and the security officer’s violent death. There appeared to be no damage even though she was certain the stench of fresh blood was still in the air despite the filtration system. She tried to contact the surface again and was met with little success and wondered if the Away Team was in trouble. Sensors on the runabout indicated that there was an atmospheric disturbance taking place on Fiorina, which would account for the communication blackout. Still, after what she had seen, Julia could not help but worry about her friends, in particular Ezra. She did not want what happened to Atwater befalling him and this hastened her determination to leave the Sulaco. 

When it was time to depart Julia placed herself at the helm controls of the runabout and began powering up the required systems for launch. The floor beneath her began humming reassuringly as the engines ignited and light began to illuminate across the previously darkened panels and console screens. Julia placed her hand on the controls and prepared to launch when something dark slithered past the corner of her eye at the bow of the runabout. Through the glass of the cockpit window, she saw something emerged before her that was no longer one foot in height and hissing at her in defiance. The creature in front of her was nowhere that small, it was almost man sized, if not a little more. For a second, she watched in mesmerized horror as it’s lifted its smooth curved head, glistening with slimy fluid as it raised its eyeless gaze towards her and hissed. The teeth that were bared were razor sharp and ooze glistened off the inch long fangs, pooling on the glass.

For a moment, neither human or alien reacted as both regarded each other with diametrically opposing views; prey and predator. It was anyone’s guess which was which.

There was an instant of clarity when she knew it was going to attack, despite the barrier of plexiglass between them. In space, with the shields between it and space, there was very little that could penetrate the screen of glass that made up the cockpit window. However, the shields were not up and as the alien hissed and pulled its bony hand up, preparing to strike, Julia realized she could not even shoot it without destroying the cockpit window that would make it impossible for her to launch the runabout. It terrified her beyond belief when Julia considered whether or not the alien knew this as well.

Julia felt out of her chair when its fist went straight through the plexiglass. It shattered the plexiglass easily and moved so quickly to push its way through the glass before she had a chance to react. However, her reactions in proportion to her enemy was slow and when she reached for her phaser, the creature had already maneuvered its spindly tail through one of the fragments holes left in the window when it had broken through. Like a whip, it swooshed through the air and struck her hand above the wrist. Julia let out a terrified scream as she felt bones snap and her hand released the phaser. It skittered out of reach somewhere. She had no time to suffer her pain because she looked around and saw the alien forcing its bulk through the breaking glass of the cockpit window. 

Knowing that if it entered the confined space with her, she would be good as dead, Julia leapt to her feet and immediately bolted for the runabout hatch. Slamming her fist against the door panel, she saw the creature’s head turn to her as the door started sliding open. It started to pull out of the narrow passageway with the intention of meeting her at the door. Julia pushed herself through the opening hatch without wasting a moment; she could hear the breaking of glass behind her as the alien pulled itself free. Escaping the runabout, she ran harder and faster than she ever done so in her life, racing towards the heavy door behind which the power lifters were kept, ignoring the sounds of the alien breaking free of the runabout and coming after her. She could hear the sound of its tough exoskeleton against the steel deck of the screech it made as its came after her in pursuit. Julia's hands activated the control panel of the massive door even before she went through.

She dared to turn around only after she heard the low whine of the hydraulics bringing the door down. Beyond it, the alien screeched angrily, realizing that she was about to elude it. Julia's back was pressed against the wall as she watched in terror, the alien's hand clawing at her impotently through the closing gap of the door, trying to reach her. She could hear its furious hissing before the metal door lowered completely and the creature was forced to withdraw or risk losing its entire arm. Its retreat was by no means surrender and Julia heard its furious pounding against the steel door even after it had closed. Finally, the pounding stopped but Julia did not allow herself the luxury of thinking the creature had given up.

It had not given up. It was merely seeking another way in.

As Julia started moving again, realizing that she was wasting precious seconds by remaining where she was because the alien was no doubt finding an alternate way of reaching her. As she exited the door that would take her to rest of the Sulaco, in particular, the armory, she found herself thinking one thing;

She hated it when Ezra was right.

Part Eleven

It was easy to say upon first sighting it, that neither Ensign Angel nor Christie had ever seen anything like it. The structure stood at the edge of the prison facility, having been unseen from the air because its close proximity to the prison and mining complex made it blend into the dour grey background with ease. However, upon sighting it with their own eyes, it did not take them long to come to the conclusion that whatever this curious construct might be, it stood on its own, having nothing to do with the prison or those who built it. From a distance, the domed shape was a stark contrast to the block shaped buildings of sharp angles that ran against the skyline. For a moment, they were tempted to contact the senior officers to report their find but then abandoned the idea when they realized that they were uncertain of what exactly they were calling in. Short discussion was made regarding the folly of looking foolish before their superior officers, particularly where a lack of information was concerned. 

Finally it was Christie who was the senior of the two ensigns who came up with the idea that they ought to at least take a closer look at the structure before reporting to the Chief. When they had first seen the structure it did not seem very far from the edge of the facility. However, upon making the journey itself, the gap seemed to widen and they realized that the reason for their misjudgment in distance was due to the size of the construct. From a far, it had not seemed terribly large but as they narrowed the space between it and themselves, they were able to appreciate its size very clearly. It was also difficult to discern what the structure was made from because it did not resemble any construction material known to them. It was strangely organic in design and for a time, both Starfleet officers tried to place where they might have seen something like it. 

Once they neared the base of it, they realized that the dome was constructed not of any kind of building material but rather of anything that was available at the time. They could see everything from chairs and tables, to kitchen utensils being forced into place and held together with thick epoxy like resin. There were papers, wood, plastic and every conceivable of object that was available, frozen into place like a piece of abstract sculpture from a tortured artist’s mind. The dome was just that, a dome with no windows or anything that might allow in light and for some reason that sent a sliver of uneasiness through both the ensigns.  

"We should report this." Angel said still staring at the dome through the veil of teeming rain that was coming down on them. Even though she was soaked to the skin, the humidity in the air did not allow her to feel cool and instead she was wet and miserable. For a time, she had been willing to explore what they had found but now it appeared they were dealing with something that was entirely out of their depth. It made her grateful that although long-range communication was non-functional, at least short-range communications was still possible because she they could defer to the senior officers with this.  

"I think you’re right." Christie agreed. "You contact Lieutenant Collins and I’ll take a closer look at this thing. There has to be a way inside."

 "Well don’t go in there if you find it." Angel called out as he drew away from her. "At least, not until you let me know. You’re not doing this alone." 

"Yes mom." Christie threw her a mischievous grin. 

"Very funny." Angel grumbled and waved her arm at him, indicating she was washing her hands of him completely before tapping her com badge. 

"Lieutenant Collins." She spoke out loud, her voice an octave higher than usual because of the rain. 

Lieutenant Collins, who was at the present time, standing guard outside the EEV where the senior officers were presently looking over the find, immediately responded. "Collins here, what’s up Angel?"  

"We’ve found something Sir." Angel responded. 

"What something exactly have you found?" Collin’s voice tensed up immediately. For most part, the Lieutenant was a happy go lucky personality and was one of the more casual senior security officers on the ship. She worked closely with Lieutenant Katovit but was known to be more approachable than the Assistant Security Chief. Most of the time, Collins acted as the go between the security staff and Katovit who would then bring it to the Chief, if it were required. However, those who knew the woman were often surprised by just how seriously she took her job as opposed to playing den mother to the younger officers. 

"It appears to be some kind of a structure." Angel explained. "It doesn’t look to be a part of the prison facility and its construction is strange."

"How so?" Collins asked.

"Well it appears to be constructed out of materials from the facility. I’m talking everyday appliances." The young woman reported as her gaze swept across the area, searching for Ensign Christie. "There aren’t any windows and Christie is investigating the grounds looking for a way in." 

"Hold position." Collins ordered tautly. "Contact Christie and tell him not to proceed until you receive further instructions. Is that clear?"  

"Yes Sir." Angel nodded, somewhat relieved that she would not have to venture into that structure alone. Something about it made her skin crawl. She did not know why this was but she trusted her instincts enough to know that when she felt like this, it was usually for good reason. "Angel out." 

Once the connection between them was terminated, Angel resumed her search of Christie across the landscape and was not at all happy when she did not sight him. Had he found a way in? She started skirting the edge of the large structure until she saw fissure at the base of the dome. It was no more than a crack of space between objects fused in its strange configuration and knew that it was large enough to enter. Tapping her com badge once more, this time she tried to raise Christie. 

"Christie." Angel spoke loudly. "Where the hell are you?" 

Christie did not answer and that raised Angel’s apprehension even more. Despite her better judgment, she entered the fissure, leaving the comforting feel of rain and daylight behind her as she stepped into almost complete darkness. She fumbled for her belt and immediately found the small torch that hung there with the rest of the standard issue equipment that was a requirement of any Away Team mission. Fumbling for the switch, with nothing less than panic in her heart for the darkness, she did not even register the overpowering smell that wafted through the place. It was only after the light had filled the chamber, did she note that it was a maze of chambers, one after other, all built from that peculiar alien resin. The walls seemed to run with thick veins and gave Angel the sense of being trapped in something that was very much alive.  

The smell however, soon assaulted her and it was almost drove her to retch. The smell was familiar to her even though she could not place it at the moment. 

"Christie!" She called out again, her voice echoing through the thick, bulbous chambers of odd shapes and dark shadows. "Are you in here?"

There was no answer and Angel had a sudden foreboding that something bad had befallen her comrade. It was this fear for his life that forced her to continue instead of holding position. She continued deeper and deeper, breathing in more of that terrible stench which seemed to have soaked into the walls. The interior of the dome felt like a hot house for flora cultivation and her skin moistened with sweat very quickly. The shapes did not stir as she continued deeper into the chamber, calling out for Christie, telling herself she would fairly roar at him for being so foolish as to wander through this stygian darkness all by himself, when she found him.

*********

Ensign Christie had surveyed the base of the structure and found the fissure several minutes before Angel had made her entry in search of him. Upon finding the way in, he chose wisely not to enter and continue on his way, trying to learn whether or not there were other entrances. Whilst he was doing this, he discovered that his com badge was malfunctioning when he attempted to contact Angel and tell her what he had found. Upon examining the small communicator fashioned into the Starfleet insignia, he learnt that some moisture had had penetrated the casing. It was a simple matter to repair but chose to do it when he was somewhere dryer. Being out of communication with Angel, Christie decided the wisest course of action would be to turn back to rejoin her.  

Unfortunately, when he returned to the place where he had left her, the young woman was nowhere to be found. Realising that she might have taken her inability to contact him as a sign of danger, Christie wondered if she had gone looking for him and found the entrance into the dome. Uncertain of what she might find in there if he had done the same, Christie was nonetheless unprepared to let her face it alone if she had placed herself in danger because of him. Without having to think twice about it, he entered the fissure and found himself enclosed by the same darkness that had greeted Angel upon entering the dome. He immediately reached for his phaser and his torch at the same time, providing himself with light as well as protection.

Christie did not scare easily. His origins in the Canadian Rockies had seen his upbringing in the midst of some of the most beautiful country on Earth, as well as the most dangerous. Kodiak bears, wolves and mountain lions roamed freely, endangered species no more thanks to conservation efforts and anyone who could become comfortable with such creatures sharing the same local area with them, did not get frightened of the dark. He was just as confused by the maze of chambers as Angel was before him and Christie told himself not to touch anything while he searched for her.

"Angel!" Christie cried out beyond the range of the torch’s illumination.  

It was to his profound relief that a few seconds later, he heard her response. "I’m here!" She returned. She was some distance away and her relief at being discovered was profound in her voice.  

"Stay where you are!" He ordered, feeling suddenly protective of the young, willowy woman, who was brave, as she was beautiful. She would probably hit him if she thought for a moment he considered her that way, Christie thought with a bemused smile. 

He found her in a chamber that looked nothing like the one they had encountered previously. For starters, the floor was covered in bones. The bones did not appear to be human but rather of small animals, like dogs and cats. After closer examination, Christie was certain of this. Their bones were all shattered around the sternum and while some remained on the floor, others were attached to the wall, held in place by the resin. He could see the same wounds on all of them and understood finally what that stench had been. It had been the lingering odor of decomposing flesh. The realization almost made him gag in disgust but he forced the unpleasant sensation away. 

"Look at this." Angel pointed to the leather shaped objects that stood in correspondence to almost every set of bones found here. The objects were unsealed and whatever they had contained had long since departed for the interior of the biological canisters was empty. 

"What the hell is this place?" He asked.  

"I don’t know," she whispered anxiously. "But I think we ought to get the hell out of here." 

With that Christie could not disagree. "I think you’re right." 

They turned around slowly and retreated the way they had come, or so they believed. The maze was so thick with so many looming shadows that it was hard to tell. Suddenly they entered a new chamber and stopped short immediately.  

The floor was covered with the leather objects and they were allsealed.

The chamber itself was enormous and was the largest one they had seen yet. Neither of them could tell where it ended and the floor was covered with the objects they knew unconsciously to be eggs. Slowly, their eyes moved around, watching the pulsing life inside the translucent objects, wet with moisture from the hothouse conditions inside the dome. They could see digits moving through vicious fluid. 

"God," Christie whispered. "We’re in an egg chamber." 

"What’s laying the eggs?" Angel asked. 

She never got an answer to her question because there was no need. Christie had been standing against a formation they had both assumed to be the strange walls of the dome, never anticipating that in the shadows, something had been waiting or a long time. He never even had the chance to scream. His head ruptured like a cracked egg, the massive inner jaws of something very big, smashed through his cranium and pulled apart his skull when it exited through his forehead. Angel staggered backward and screamed, watching everything that had been her friend splatter onto her uniform and in the surrounding area.

The creature pulled back its jaws once it had finished with Christie and regarded the remaining human. Angel could not tell how large it was because it was hidden by the darkness of the place and the range of the torch was simply not enough to tell her. She saw limbs moving, large, thick limbs and a ring of material over its enormous head that could have been a crown. Upon retracting its inners jaws into past another set of jaws, it hissed at her, foot long teeth bared as it cocked it eyeless head and stared straight at her.

Something inside her snapped. 

Scrambling to her feet with more than a case of mild panic, she started running blindly. As she raced through the dark maze, her torch gripped tightly in her sweating palm, she became aware of others things. Something was slithering to life in the darkness. She could hear wet sounds of things breaking free and slicks noises of movement against a slimy wet floor. Those vague, nondescript emanations struck cold fear through her heart and sent her pulse racing as she continued at breakneck speed. She did not realize that she was moving so fast that whatever she and Christie had awakened had not quite time to shake the sluggishness from their post hibernating systems.  

Angel saw the fissure of light ahead and knew that she was almost out of the dome but refused to let her guard down for it was in her nature to believe the closer one reached to their goal, the more likely it was to slip away from one’s fingers. Just as the thought crossed her mind, something leapt out in front of her. Although smaller than the nightmarish figure that had claimed Christie’s life, this one stood taller than her and by no means any less lethal. It hissed at her, a mass of tentacles, protrusions and an elongated head, to which rather sharp teeth were attached. The two hands it brandished in her direction were capable of ripping through steel though at this time, she was unaware of that fact. Angel reacted instinctively, she withdrew her phaser and began firing without hesitation. The beam of energy struck the creature in the chest and flung it backwards, its body exploding as it was propelled away from her. Acid sprayed in all directions, eating into the ground as soon as it splattered across it. Angel did not ruminate on this and continued running, leaping over the remains of the alien before escaping through the fissure. 

"Angel!" Collins was already there with the Chief. "I told you not to go in!" Collins barked angrily, noting the blood on the younger woman. 

"We can’t stay!" Angel stammered. "They’re coming!" 

"What’s coming?" Collins demanded again. 

"Take it easy on the young lady," Ezra interjected. "Ensign, report." 

"Sir, there’s no time!" Angel declared, averting her eyes frantically between him and the fissure. "They’re in there! They killed Christie!" 

"The Ensign is right." Ezra responded, needing to hear nothing more. He knew perfectly well what was inside the dome and had known so ever since he had seen this structure and guessed its purpose. There would be time enough for explanations later but for now, the ensign’s advice though inspired by fear was sound judgment. "We have to leave here immediately." 

"What is it Sir?" Collins asked, seeing the fear in his eyes.

Ezra glanced at the darkness of the fissure for a second before answering grimly. "History repeating itself."

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

"I’m going to disconnect you for awhile Bishop." Alex told the android as she prepared to transport him to the Sulaco.  

"Oh." Bishop responded quietly, clearly disliking the idea of going to sleep again.  

"Its okay," she assured him. "I’m not going to leave you behind. You’re coming back with us to the Sulaco and later onto the Maverick." 

"The Maverick?" Bishop asked. 

"Yes, its our ship." Alex responded, aware that the android was feeling a little uneasy about being disconnected once more. 

"A warship?" He inquired. 

"No," she shook her head slowly. "A lot has changed. While we do defend the borders of the planets in the Federation, in the instance of attack, our charter is mostly for the exploration of new life, to extend mutual cooperation between all member races towards peaceful co-existence." 

"An admirable goal." Bishop replied. "Very different from my time." 

"You’ll have plenty to catch up on," Alex responded. "Now I have to disconnect you but I promise it won’t be for long."

"I believe you." Bishop responded, appearing as if he genuinely believed it. Alex was touched by the faith he had in her and promised herself inwardly that whatever happened during this mission, she was not abandoning him here.  

"Alex," Vin hurried into the EEV. "We’ve got trouble." 

"What sort of trouble?" She asked automatically.

"Ensign Christie is dead." He replied somberly. "He and Ensign Angel found what Ezra thinks is some kind of a nest outside the facility." 

"How is that possible?" Alex exclaimed in shock. "There has only been one alien on this planet." 

"All the drones have the ability to produce some eggs if they are alone." Bishop informed them dutifully. "It is from this group that a queen is usually created."

"An egg layer." Alex uttered softly.  

"Yes." Bishop nodded, seeing that she understood the ramifications.

"But this planet has been abandoned for the last four hundred years." Alex could not wrap her mind around it. Everything they knew said that for the alien to produce in large numbers, there would have to be hosts and to their knowledge Fiorina had been devoid of humans for almost four centuries. "There wouldn’t have been any viable hosts." 

"Alex, we can debate this later." Vin said shortly, helping her to gather her tools. "Right now, we’ve got to go." 

"Alright," she nodded in understanding before turning back to Bishop. "I’ll see you soon." She offered the android another reassuring smile before disconnecting the attachments that made him conscious. The android’s remains spasmed at the cessation of power, twitching sharply for a few seconds before he stopped moving altogether.  

"Is Ensign Angel alright?" Alex asked as she gathered up Bishop’s remains. 

"She’s fine but she’s shaken up." Vin retorted as they both walked out of the EEV together. "Alex, there are aliens here and judging from what Angel has told us, there are a lot of them." 

Alex looked at him. "What do you mean a lot of them?"

Her question went unanswered for the moment as they joined the Captain, Ezra, Collins and the clearly upset ensign who was doing her level best not to let her fear overcome her. Not an easy task one supposed after what she had just seen.  

"We’re moving out." Chris announced as soon as he caught sight of them. 

"Alex," Ezra turned to her. "Can you configure the tricorder to detect these creatures? I am detecting no life signs at all." 

"Its not set up to deal with possible silicon based creatures," Alex explained and immediately took the device from the Security Chief. "Exactly what did you see Ensign?" She asked. 

"I knew we shouldn’t have gone in," Angel responded as they started moving towards the drop ship. "But I thought Christie was in there and I didn’t want to leave him alone." 

"It's alright Ensign," Chris said soothingly, aware of how guilty she felt just by the sound of her voice. "You didn’t want to abandon a comrade, that’s admirable." 

"Thank you Sir," she smiled at Chris before continuing. "It was dark in there and the construction was bizarre, like being inside something alive. In retrospect, I guess it reminded me of an ant hive. I walked in quite a way when I heard Christie. We met up in this chamber that had all these bones in it. Now that I think of it, all the skeletons were intact except for the chest cavity." 

"Human bones?" Chris asked, his stomach hollowing at the thought. 

"No Sir," she shook her head. "Animal bones, dogs and cats to be specific. Captain, there were a lot of them, I estimate more than fifty at least and that’s not to mention the ones one the wall." 

"The wall." Alex mused. "That's the same way the Marines found the colonists on LV427. They were all suspended to the walls of the atmosphere processor for embryo implantation." 

"I don’t understand how there could be that many cats and dogs on this planet." Vin declared. "Where did they come from?" 

"The Company." Ezra stated firmly. 

"The Company?" Chris shot him a look. "How do you figure that?" 

"Well consider this if you may." Ezra remarked as they moved through the facility as fast as possible, their footsteps making harsh sounds against the crack linoleum floors. "What if the alien who had come down here from the Sulaco chose to lay eggs? There were more than enough prisoners to act as hosts for its progeny. Of course we assume that the creature was killed when the company shut down the facility but what happened if those eggs were discovered? The company finally had what it wanted, alien specimens in what could be considered a rather controlled environment. They close the facility and start bringing in dogs and cats, creatures large enough and completely expendable to be used as hosts for the eggs. Naturally after the first few are spawned, a queen is created if I can compared the life cycle of these organisms to known contemporaries like ants and bees." 

"You wouldn’t be wrong." Alex agreed with his theory. "Before I disconnected him, Bishop said as much. The alien drones has the capability to lay some eggs, one of which can be a queen." 

"So the queen is produced and with a steady influx of animals to act as incubators for the spores, the Company had its very own colony of aliens." Ezra concluded. 

"But why leave them here Sir?" Collins inquired. "After all that? Why just abandon them?" 

"That’s easy," Chris responded in complete agreement with Ezra’s hypothesis over what had happened here at Fiorina 361. "World War 3. When the Optimum movement took over, a lot of outposts were abandoned, scientific personnel were recalled to Earth. I’m sure whomever was in charge here, did not want to stay in orbit around Fury considering what’s waiting for them on the surface."  

"I think I saw her." Angel gulped. 

"Saw what?" Collins looked at the junior officer. 

"The queen." She muttered softly. "She was huge Chief. I mean she wasn’t moving or anything but she was enormous. She didn’t even have to move when she killed Christie." Her voice threatened to break but once again, Angel maintained her composure.
"Not unusual," Ezra responded. "The queen is usually larger than the normal drone. The queens in wasp and bee colonies may sting many more times and is often larger, where else in termites and ants, she usually needs caring for and is quite helpless." 

"Okay," Alex stated as they reached the tarmac where the drop ship was presently waiting for them. "I’ve configured this thing so that it will register non carbon based life forms." 

"I hope we don’t need it," Vin remarked. "From all accounts, anyone running into these things are going to have a bad day. I say we leave while we can." 

"Good idea." Chris agreed.  

However Alex was not speaking. Her eyes widened as she saw the readings on the tricorder and she raised her eyes to the Captain. "In that case Captain," Alex swallowed visibly. "I think we better get moving." 

"Why?" Chris asked, even though the question seemed some redundant. He knew why.  

He just did not know how bad. 

She met all their gazes as Ezra came next to her and when he saw what she was seeing, his face drained of color as well and Alex finally answered. "Because I’m reading one big fucking signal coming right for us." 

Part Twelve

The drop ship seemed untouched as they reached the hatch that led to its innards. However, this was no indication that they were safe. According to the tricorders, the aliens were all around them and probably had a better knowledge regarding the layout of the prison facility then they had. Fury 361 was a maze of shafts, underground access ways, electrical access tunnels and crawl spaces, all of which the aliens had proven from what they had learned of the disaster at Acheron, were more than capable of traversing. In Chris’ opinion, if they made it off the planet, they would be exceedingly lucky. What he saw on the tricorder screen had justified Alex’s startling announcement. The life signs of the aliens were so many that it was difficult to take an accurate count of them and judging by the volume, they were at the moment about to converge upon the potential hosts that had unwittingly strayed into their realm.

The rain had begun to pick up momentum again and the wind seemed to increase, creating even more visual confusion as windows shutters slammed and doors flew open, creating noises that added to the chaos of their departure. Ezra, Chris, Collins and Angel were keeping a watchful eye out for the savage creatures, while Vin and Alex went on ahead. Alex had refused to leave the Bishop android and Vin needed to get to the drop ship first so he could prep the craft for take off. Ripley had given them scant information about the alien's abilities beyond the fact that it was a killer, capable of surviving in a vacuum and did not have any trouble getting through barricades. Chris hoped that did not mean titanium hulls as well.

"How close?" Chris demanded as they saw the drop ship through the rain.

"Ten meters." Ezra retorted and noticed Angel’s eyes wide with panic because she more than anyone had first had knowledge of what the things could do after seeing what had happened to poor Ensign Christie.

They were moving across the tarmac, making good time when suddenly, a screech filled the air just as they began to round the drop ship to reach the main hatch. The alien scrambled over the top of a near by building with such speed it was nothing more than a dark blur against the grey sky. In the light of day, it was no less terrifying than it was when it hid in the shadows and were it alone, they might not have felt the panic they did but it was not alone. There were at least four others behind it and their approach was not frenzied or disorganized but the coordinated attack that usually from pack hunters. The lead alien hissed at them, teeth bared while resin oozed in thick, long rivulet from the two-inch fangs.

"Oh shit." Chris swore under his breath, as he understood the gesture for what it was; attack.

It sprung from the roof of the one storied building like a coil serpent; fangs bared as the other four behind it split into two and attempt to approach them from the flank. The alien reached the tarmac as if it had flown there and leapt again. The next time it landed, it would be right on top of them. Chris did not plan to let it get far. He aimed his phaser without even thinking about aiming and pulled the trigger, watching the amber beam of energy tear the creature apart. Whatever it used for skin was extremely tough for usually a phaser set for kill would disintegrate anything unfortunate enough to get in its path. The aliens did not vaporize but rather exploded and considering what their blood was made off, that made them extremely hard to kill in close proximity.

Acid began eating into the ground as soon as the creature had ruptured. The potency of its blood could not be denied as they saw bitumen dissolving before their eyes and shuddered at what that could do to skin.

"Behind you!" Ezra shouted at Collins as the two aliens finally made their arrival, now that their pack leader was gone. Collin swung around gracefully like a dancer doing a pirouette, her phaser already drawn and fired before the alien could even attempt its customary lunge. Like the others, it met its end in the same spectacular manner and Ezra dispatched the second alien that was approaching her flank. Even through the rain, the noxious stench of burning asphalt was filling the air, as well as the ragged holes in the ground where the acid had eaten away through the bitumen paving. Angel was firing away with the same intensity, ensuring that the remaining two aliens did not reach her or her captain, who was standing side by side with her in the endeavor.

Chris swung around and saw Vin running up the open hatch of the drop ship and was about to turn his back on what remained of the aliens had tried to take them before they reached their ship, when an ugly thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Vin!" Chris shouted. "Not so fast!"

The captain did not have time to complete his warning because Vin was suddenly thrown backwards through the open ramp, the dark shape which he was wrestling with was unmistakable, claws, tail and that elongated head filled with razor sharp teeth. Both tumbled down the ramp way and somewhere through the rain, Chris heard Alex cry out in horror as she saw them both go down.

"Vin!" The science officer dropped the android remains she was carrying and immediately went for her phaser in record time but producing the weapon did not give her clear line to fire. Vin and the alien were a tangled mess of limbs, tail and body parts and she could not fire without hitting the Vulcan or worse yet, keep him from being sprayed with acid even if she did hit her intended target.

Vin was beyond hearing anything at the moment.

He could feel the fangs trying to reach him through the aliens frenzied flaying of its limbs. The creature’s tail lashed at him several times as he tried to keep its claws from tearing him to pieces. The alien was incredibly strong and if Vin was not Vulcan, he might not have been able to fight the creature off. He heard Alex screaming in the background and saw her rushing towards him, attempting to dislodge the alien from the top of him when the creature's tail lashed out like a whip and struck her hard across the body. His fear for her allowed his guard to drop and suddenly he felt razor sharp nails sink into his side and pull back with ruthless savagery.

"Shit!" He swore feeling blood running down his flesh, soaking his uniform even more, as if the rain had not done it enough. He could feel the alien's breath on him, could see the triumph in its bared fangs and suddenly, Vin got very, very mad.

Unaware of where the rage had come from, satisfied only that it would be put to good use, Vin ignored the pain in his flank and snapped his fist around the alien's thin neck. Using the animal's frenzied movements as a momentum, he rolled on top of it and smashed his fist into what would have been the space between the alien's eyes had it optical senses. The blow disorientated the creature and Vin continued pounding, cautiously reminding himself he could not break skin no matter how much he wanted to make this thing bleed. He only wanted it off balance enough to get away. However, something else was penetrating the wall that separated him and this creature, the veneer of civilization that made the alien what it was and himself, a Vulcan.

The familiar warmth of the meld had enveloped him before he even knew what he was doing but remembered that Vulcans were able to read the thoughts of other creatures simply by making physical contact with them. It was part of the reason why they had cultivated such a strict regimen of mental discipline in order to protect themselves from being overwhelmed by the thoughts and emotions of others. Vin had only a limited discipline and though he was fighting this creature for his very life, he could nonetheless feel what was going on inside its mind, such as it was. The experience was beyond description and Vin was staggered by what was filtering into his mind.

Brutal, savage need, lacking in all conscience, with no complicated feelings of morality or understanding, just instinct, driving heated instinct that burned with the intensity of a thousand black stars. This creature did not think. It did not ponder its place in the scheme of the cosmos. Its comprehension was occupied with the singular need for which it would do anything, kill anyone, and use anything to accomplish. Nothing else made any difference, not one single thing that could replace that feverish; all consuming desire that dictated this alien being's entire existence.

The need to breed.

"Vin get away from it!" He heard Chris order and snapped out of the haze that his mind had slipped into. For an instant he had almost forgotten where he was. He was gripped with an overwhelming sense of rage and brutal desire he knew was not his own anger but rather the alien's. Even when Chris' voice had brought him to reality, the lingering effects resonated through him even when he felt Alex dragging him off the alien. There was a momentary bout of disconnection when he heard the alien screech just before Ezra turned his phaser on it destroyed it. However, the effects of the meld lingered and for a second, Vin thought he might faint. However, he maintained his equilibrium.

"Vin," Alex came to him and examined the wound on the side of his body. "God, you're hurt!"

"We've got to keep moving!" Chris ordered. "Are you okay?" The captain asked.

"I'm fine." Vin nodded and meant it. The pain was starting to make itself felt but he knew as well as Chris that they could not stop to let it pass, there were too many of the aliens converging upon them. They were directly beneath the drop ship now and Vin had regained his composure enough to know that he had to get to the cockpit and fire up the engines if any of them were to leave this place alive.

"Vin," Ezra suddenly spoke out. His eyes looking past the drop ship and the helmsman to the surrounding area. "How long is it going to take you to lift off?"

"Three minutes." Vin retorted as he started running up the ramp way back into the drop ship, this time he was a little more cautious about his entry since it was conceivable that they might have stowaways.

At first they had all thought that it was the sound of the rain pounding down around their ears that was creating such a loud hiss but now that they were listening closely, they realized that it was not rain at all. The aliens came into sight, no longer hindered by the effects of their long hibernation. There were so many across the skyline of buildings that surrounded the tarmac that for a moment, they made a sheer wall of black that was quickly converging upon them. Their teeth were hissing and they moved slowly, as if trying to stay out of range of the terrible weapons that had claimed some of their brethren.

Chris knew immediately that he and his crew were about to be hit by a swarm. "Vin. We don't have that much time."

No sooner than he had made that remark, the aliens charged. They swept across the tarmac like a black tide and the only sensible order Chris could give was one he never thought he'd ever have to say.

"RUN!" He shouted.

Alex had already scrambled up the ramp carrying the android Bishop. Chris could not bring himself to order her to leave the synthetic behind. Ezra was telling Collins to get into the ship and keep an eye out for any stowaways. Ezra's gaze met his once his junior officer had gone and both of them knew immediately that in two minutes, these creatures would tear through the hull of drop ship. He and his crew would die before they ever left the ground.

"Captain." Ezra and he exchanged looks for an instant, as they both knew what had to be done.

"I'll do it." Chris said quickly, reaching for his phaser. "If it wasn't for me, none of you would be here."

"I don't understand Sir," Ensign Angel asked as she paused at the ramp, wondering why the two senior officers were not coming on board the drop ship.

"Absolutely not Sir," Ezra declared refusing to even entertain the notion of letting his captain fall on his own sword to save their lives. "I will not let you sacrifice yourself. If anyone undertakes this suicide mission, it should be me."

Angel suddenly understood what they were debating. The captain couldn't sacrifice himself, she thought instantly. He was Chris Larabee. He was the Captain! If the Captain died, then none of them would get out of here alive. A surge of bravery surfaced inside the young Ensign as she watched the two men prepared for the inevitable and wondered if she could be that brave. When Christie had died, she had just run like a coward! Where had been the honor in that? The Chief had been good to her. He had accepted her, a rookie into his ranks, when senior officer would give their eyeteeth for an assignment on board the Maverick. The last few months on the Maverick had been the best in her life and she did not want it to end but she also wanted neither man to sacrifice their life.

The Captain had great things to do and people who counted on him, just like the chief. She had no family and everything in her life was her job as a security officer. Security officers weren't supposed to live long and this was all her fault to begin with. She had woken those things up. They had been sleeping, unaware of the Starfleet officers in their midst when she had broken protocol and gone searching for Christie, even though he had never gone in there in the first place. Christie had died because of her, she was going to let the Captain and Commander Standish die too. Taking a deep breath, she quietly turned her phaser over and set it for overload.

She walked down the ramp, past the two men, towards the swarm that was only a few dozen meters away now. The creatures that were coming at them like black tide of death.

"Ensign, what are you doing?" Chris demanded as she saw her walking past them. Through the charge of the aliens, he could hear the low hum of a phaser in overload.

"You need to get into the ship Sir." Angel said coolly and remarkably calm to her surprise. She continued walking, until it dawned upon him what she was intending to do.

"No, you don't!" He started for her when Ezra pulled him back.

"CHRIS, NO!" Ezra grabbed him by his arm and kept him from going after that poor child. The aliens having seen their quarry come out to meet them had hastened their pace and were now converging on the young woman like a pack of wolves on a lone sheep.

When she looked over her shoulders, she realized why.

"ENSIGN YOU GET BACK HERE!" Chris shouted impotently, more than prepared to go after her, anguished as he saw her take the place that should have been for him. The aliens swept over her, until her uniform disappeared in a wave of black gleaming bodies and Chris remembered screaming her name, while Ezra dragged him up the ramp as he tried to search for her. However there was nothing left of the young Ensign from Texas, whose appointment to Ezra's security staff he had approved because he had read her Academy files and learnt that she had liked books, the kind of old books his father used to collect, bound in leather and age.

"CAPTAIN, SHE"S GONE!" Ezra's voice cut through his ears as he forced Chris into the drop ship, hiding his own sorrow at the loss of one of his youngest and brightest. The pain he felt was just as acute as Chris' even more because he had worked with the young woman and knew she liked pictures of puppy dogs and was not just another uniform to him. Angel was something to him too and it was his life she had tried to save not just the captain's. It was that fact alone that made Ezra determined not to let her sacrifice be wasted by allowing themselves to die.

Collins pulled the hatch close as soon as Chris and Ezra were through and as she secured the lock, Ezra noted that her eyes were wet with tears after she had done that. She wiped it away quickly though, as if the situation at present did not allow her to grieve. The interior of the drop ship was rumbling as the engines prepared to fire and lift them off the surface of this nightmarish world. A loud explosion was heard outside the ship, followed by the screeching of dying aliens in the fireball induced by Ensign Angel's heroic sacrifice.

Chris broke free from Ezra, having regained his composure and reminding himself that his sorrows could wait until he delivered what was left of his crew from the danger he had so irresponsibly put them. Hurrying past the two remaining security officers, Chris made his way to the cockpit. He was almost in the middle of the ship when suddenly something flurried past him over head. He drew his phaser as the alien landed in front of him on the landing. Chris prepared to fire when suddenly he realized that if he did so, the creature's acidic blood would eat through the bulkhead and cause god only knew what damage. The drop ship would be in the same predicament that had caused the Sulaco to send Ripley and her companions to the EEV! Only there would be no EEV for them to escape. The alien crossed the space between them quickly and Chris turned to run when the drop ship lifted off the ground. The sudden movement caused him to loose his footing and the phaser felt out of reach as the alien prepared to leap.

"Captain!" Collins exclaimed as she saw her commander about to be torn to pieces by an alien stowaway and immediately reacted in kind.

"Don't shoot it!" Chris tried to warn her but it was too late. The drop ship was already airborne, soaring into the clouds when the beam of amber from her phaser struck the creature in mid thorax and immediately caused it to rupture with acid spraying in all directions. Chris barely managed to get out of the way as the noxious liquid began to eat through the metal floor and fill the narrow passageway with smoke.

The drop ship continued to climb. Chris could see through the small window that they were still soaring through the thick, cumulous clouds. He began to hope that perhaps the acid did not eat through any vital systems that perhaps it would be all right.....

Then the ship dipped sharply, throwing both him and Collins to the side of the corridor.

"What the hell just happened?" Vin demanded through his com badge. "I just lost the attitude control!"

Ezra struggled up the passageway and the expression on his face as he saw the corridor filled with smoke and the fast appearing hole in the middle of the steel floor, told Chris there was no need for explanation. The drop ship rocked once again and they were forced to their knees.

"I'm sorry Sir!" Collins said frantically. "It was going to kill you!"

There was nothing Chris could say to her that would lessen the degree of what she had done but he knew that she had been faced with an impossible choice, one he would have made himself had he been the one with the phaser. If she had not acted, he would be dead now, there was no doubt about. "You did what was necessary."

"Vin." Chris tapped his com badge. "We had an alien in here."

"I guessed as much." The helmsman responded. "Alex, see if you can stabilize that booster!" He barked to the science officer in the background.

"Can we maintain altitude?" Chris asked, although he could tell by the gradual dip of the drop ship that they were losing their ability to remain airborne.

"I'm sorry Chris," Vin answered after what seemed to be an interminably long pause. "I don't know for sure what killing that thing did to the ship but we don't have the power to break orbit and we're going down."

**********

Julia Pemberton peered out the edge of the armory door and stared cautiously as the passageway that led back to the hangar. She felt her hands moistened around the bulky weapon she was carrying, hoping that she understood its working correctly or else her attempt to reach Fury 361 was going to be a very brief effort indeed. She had not seen the alien since she had escaped its clutches in the runabout and dreaded facing the thing again. However, she had listened just as closely to Ellen Ripley's briefing as the others and knew that the bizarre chemistry of the alien's physiology demanded that it propagate and at the moment, she seemed like the only viable candidate.

Of course Julia had no intention of ending up like poor Lieutenant Atwater and had every intention of finding the creature before it came looking for her. Besides, her inability to contact the rest of the Away Team had given rise to some rather disturbing thoughts. They had considered it impossible for there to be an alien on the Sulaco and yet here it was. Was it possible that the same could be said equally about what was awaiting the Away Team on Fury? Julia had thought that the loss of communications with Ezra and the others had been due to Fiorina's strange atmospheric conditions, what if there was a more sinister reason for their silence. She may well be their only hope of escaping the planet and what may be waiting for them down there, alive. Whatever happened, she simply had to fix the run about and get to Fiorina 361.

A sixth sense told her that if she did not, it would be too late for anyone.

With this thought in mind, the Chief Engineer of the Maverick emerged from the armory where she had found suitable weapon to replace the phaser she had lost in the runabout. Although she found the guns she was carrying to heavy and cumbersome, she could not help thinking that they did a great deal for her morale. The gun she was holding, according to the manifest, was an M-41AAA 10-mm pulse-rifle, over and under with a 30 mm pump action grenade launcher. It was in its day, the state of the art in combat weaponry, that seldom jammed, worked under water or in a vacuum and had no difficulty putting a sizeable hole in steel plates and she hoped aliens with a tendency to spill acid when attacked.

The gun was surprising light considering how large it was and Julia made certain she had ample ammunition to last her for quite some time. She had every intention of killing the alien if it got in her way but no desire to go hunting for it. If Ellen Ripley's tapes had told her one thing, the alien was more than a match for a human and no matter how well armed she was, Julia was not confident enough to seek confrontation with the thing unless she really had to. The weapons she had at the moment would protect her while she repaired the runabout. She was more than willing to leave the alien with run of the Sulaco while she was retrieving the others from the surface of Fiorina if this sixth sense of hers was right, that they were in need of retrieval.

Emerging from the lengthy corridor, she held the tricorder with one hand while ensuring the pulse rifle was firmly in her grip with the other. Julia had configured the tricorder to seek out non-carbon based life forms, having no intention of letting the thing jumped out at her unexpectedly as it had done earlier when she had tried to take off in the runabout. She attributed the alien with some intelligence for she found its previous attack too fortuitous to be mere coincidence. It had waited until she had attempted to lift off before choosing to strike and whether that action had been guided by some understanding that she was about to elude it, Julia was not about to take any chances. She was getting out of this alive, one way or another.

As much as she admired Ellen Ripley, Julia Pemberton was not going to die like her.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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