Aliens: New World

----Canterlot Castle guest room four, Equestria----

Twilight lay in the oversized bed, which felt as if it would be suitable for Celestia herself, tossing and turning in her troubled sleep. Unbeknownst to the squirming unicorn, her horn was shining brightly in the darkness of the room as her mind was plagued with nightmarish scenes of monsters and death. Twilight uttered another moan of fear and rolled over, kicking her legs slightly.

----?????????????----

Running. That's all Twilight could do. Tears stung her eyes as she raced down the alien hallway. It was made of all metal, and the floor was grated, making her hooves clang and echo down the hellish dimly lit corridor. They were behind her. She didn't know what, all she knew was that if she stopped, she would die. Twilight never was the athletic one, no, that title fell to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She was panting heavily, and her muscles were growing weak. She rounded a corner and saw a small door ahead. With one final burst of speed, Twilight let out a choked sob and raced through the doorway, which, somehow slid shut behind her.

Twilight crumpled to the floor with a shudder. Although there is no rest for the weary, as she heard, “T-T-Tw-Twilight.” She recognized that voice. Twilight slowly looked up at the wall to her right. And sure enough, there was Princess Celestia. Cocooned like she had been by Queen Chrysalis at her brother's wedding. But, something was different, she didn't just look stuck. She was a deathly pale color with bloodshot eyes. Her normally flowing mane was limp and matted with sweat, gunk, and, what looked like blood.

“Princess!” Twilight screamed in shock as she ran forward towards her ruined mentor.

“No!” Celestia said forcefully, which stopped Twilight in her tracks, almost as if Celestia had thrown up a wall. After living with Celestia for her whole life, Twilight knew that the princess could often order people, just with the sound of her voice, as she'd done now. As Twilight looked up, betrayal in her eyes, she saw Celestia crying. Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, crying. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw a shape move behind her strung up mentor. She couldn't make out a figure, it was simply a black form, constantly shifting and morphing. A black being of death and fear, born to kill, and die in the name of the Queen.

“Run.” Celestia said, before the thing crawled onto her, and started to scuttle towards Twilight. Twilight started to back up, staring wide-eyed at the beast which wanted her. “Run.” Celestia repeated weakly, her head drooping. The beast reared back over Twilight, who tripped and fell backwards. “Run.” Celestia muttered slowly before loosing consciousness. The beast fell forward onto Twilight, who scrambled backwards just in time, for the beast to slam into the grated floor with a hiss of annoyance. Behind Twilight was another open door, which she turned and fled out of, leaving her fallen mentor behind.
RUN
RUN
RUN
RUN

The words echoed in her mind like beating hammers on anvils. The low deep ringing of bells. The sound of her hooves slamming into the ground. She could hear the beast behind her, gaining, and screeching it's horrible screech.
RUN
RUN
RUN
RUN

The corridor seemed to never end. There was a door at the end of the hallway with something standing in front of it. The beast was right behind her. The lights suddenly went out, plunging the Twilight into her own personal hell. The beast was now an unseen monster in the darkness. A monster under the bed. The only light came from the door ahead, with that being silhouetted in the light.
RUN
RUN
RUN
RUN

She was getting closer. The light from the door was blinding now. It's heavenly white a stark contrast to the hellish black of the hallway. “Soon.” She heard the being whisper.
RUN
RUN
RUN
RUN

She was so close now. “Very soon.” Was that a... human?” The door closed. Twilight screamed. The beast screamed. Then, silence.

----Wayland Yutani Cooperation Marine transport vessel “War Game”----

“German, what happened to my checklist?” Flynn asked as he searched around the cockpit of Macklin's Maniac's dropship. The dropship was one of the newer Omega series, with a much more reinforced missile launcher than the older, but still standard issue, Sigma series. Flynn had given the ship her own personal touch, giving it a custom nose art job, which had the image of a timber wolf head, and blood seeping from it's parted jaws, and “Cannibal Animal” underneath it written in a bloody red color.

“I don't know. Why would I know?” German asked as he ran the weapon diognostic for the missiles.

“Because you're the co-pilot.” Flynn responded rolling his eyes and standing up to search the APC bay. After searching for a good twenty minutes, Flynn cursed and walked down the ramp to retrieve another list. Outside in the shuttle bay, Everyone seemed to have a job. Tiberius was helping Houston and Styles load the APC, which was parked a few meters from the dropship, and O'Brien was directing Maple on the power loader. That's when he saw him. A man wearing a brown jacket over a light blue button up shirt, being led by King and Macklin into the shuttle bay. This man, was Thomas Lander.

Flynn scowled and jogged back into the ship. “Adviser's here.” He said with mock thankfulness.

“Great, we're saved now.” German replied in the same tone. Flynn walked in and found him gazing out the cockpit window as Macklin and the adviser observed the gathered marines.

“They're the best the corp has to offer.” Macklin said assuredly to Thomas as he surveyed his troops.

“They better be.” Thomas replied briskly. “This mission is of vital importance.” He said. No mention of Groman's mission. 'He's hiding something.' Macklin thought, but kept his face unreadable. “How much longer until they're ready?” He asked, still observing the marines.

“Two hours.” Macklin answered.

Thomas grunted. “Make it one.” He said, before turning and walking away.

Macklin sighed in frustration, before he called out to the two squad leaders, “One hour!” The groans could be heard all around the room.

----Canterlot guest room four, Equestria----

Twilight was sitting at the table in her room silently sipping on some hot chocolate with bloodshot eyes and an un-brushed mane as moonlight shone in from the large window across from her, illuminating her spot. Spike was asleep in the adjacent room, still conked out from staying up so late to watch her unveiling. With the letter. And the photo of the human. She couldn't get the dream out of her head. She kept replaying the scene over and over in her mind. It hadn't seemed surreal like other dreams, no, this one was vivid and real. She could feel the metal, and hear those voices and feel it's hot breath on her back. Twilight shuddered and took another jerky sip of the coco. 'Humans.' She thought as she remembered the silhouetted figure standing in the door. 'Very soon.' Twilight let out another sigh as she stood up, levitating the coco with her.

There came a knock on the door, causing Twilight to squeal in fright. She dropped her coco, the mug smashing to the floor, and sending the hot chocolate liquid spilling to the floor around her hooves. The door burst open to reveal Twilight's brother, Shining Armor standing there. “Twilight?” He asked worriedly as he saw her standing shakily in a puddle of hot chocolate; bits of shattered china lay in the puddle like deformed islands in an ocean of muddy, poluted water. “Twily, are you okay?” He asked, rushing to her side, and draping a hoof over her.

Twilight slowly nodded her head. “Y-Yeah, you j-just... spooked me, that's all.” She said uncertainly.

Shining Armor escorted her to her bed, and sat down next to her on it. Twilight sat, her head still down to hide her tears of fright. “Twily, I've known you all your life. What's wrong?” He asked, stroking her mane soothingly.

Twilight shook her head slowly. “N-No, it's okay, really. It was just a bad dream that's all.” She said.

“Well, you mind telling about it?” He asked warmly. Reluctantly, Twilight recalled her nightmare down to the very last detail. When she was finished, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her back. “That's pretty rough kiddo.” Her brother commented, going over the dream. “You said you saw a human?” He asked.

Twilight looked up at him. “Yeah. Why?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Because it sounds a lot like that thing in the photo of that letter.” He said.

“Yes. It's the same creature.” She said in a melancholy tone.

Shining Armor nodded his head slowly, and said, “I think you're just stressed is all.” He said. “C'mon, the Princess has those objects up for everypony to see. That's why I came to get you. And, are you sure you're okay?” He asked worriedly.

Twilight nodded her head and said, “Yeah, I just got a headache, but it's not that bad.”

Shining Armor nodded, “Right, then let's go. Maybe Cadence can help you with your headaches.” He said with a wink. Twilight rolled her eyes and slowly walked to wake Spike, who was still fast asleep.

----Canterlot Science Exhibit, Equestria----

“C'mon Bon-Bon!” Lyra hollered as she galloped down the rows of exhibits towards the newest edition, and receiving distasteful looks from the Canterlotian ponies.

“Lyra, slow down!” Bon-Bon called as she galloped after, albeit, slower than Lyra.

“There!” Lyra said as she skidded to a halt in front of the glass cases. There were three, with royal guards on either side of the trio. One containing the small box like object, the next containing the black object with the handle and barrel, and the final case held the letter, the picture, gone. “Wow!” Lyra said as she observed the small box in case one. It glowed brightly in the case, illuminating several small keys with letters on them, and words on the glass screen. “Bon-Bon, Bon-Bon! Come look at this!” Lyra said, waving a hoof at her.

Bon-Bon slowly walked towards her roommate, trying to ignore the looks the other ponies were giving her. Not to say that Bon-Bon wasn't interested, she was, she just didn't want to make a foal of herself in public, something her roommate didn't understand, or didn't care about. “I see it Lyra.” Bon-Bon said in a motherly tone, which pretty much set the tone of their relationship.

“So cool!” Lyra commented as she tried to get different angles of the exhibits, but was blocked due to the ropes keeping away from the glass. “Hey Bon-Bon?” Lyra asked, drawing Bon-Bon's attention away from the small tablet like object.

“Yeah Lyra?”

“Doesn't it seem like something used to be here?” Lyra asked curiously.

Bon-Bon looked away from the tablet and walked to Lyra, who was standing near exhibit three, the letter. To the right of the paragraph, was an empty space where, Bon-Bon had to admit, looked like something was missing. Bon-Bon looked closely at it. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.” She said examining the empty space. “Maybe you can ask Twilight about it.” Bon-Bon said, before turning. “C'mon Lyra, let's give some other ponies a turn. Lyra groaned and reluctantly followed Bon-Bon away from the exhibit. But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing.

----Canterlot Castle, Celestia's quarters, Equestria----

Celestia was tired. This didn't happen often, but when it did, she got TIRED. Celestia was sitting on her bed, not trying to sleep, for fear of another nightmare, but just lying there. 'Afraid of a nightmare?' Celestia nodded weakly. 'Yes, I am.'

The past few hours had been a flurry of activity between herself and her sister Luna. First the letter with the human, then the nightmare. Celestia sighed. The nightmare had been horrible, and Luna had been powerless to stop it. Luna was the controller of dreams, but something had fought her. And it won. Celestia's dream had been strange and terrifying in more ways than she knew.

----???????????----

“Where am I?” This was not something Celestia asked often, but she found the question quite fitting for her current situation. The walls were made of charcoal colored metal, and the floor beneath her hooves was grated. She stood in the center of the long corridor, observing her surroundings. There was something not right, like she was missing something.

Then, she heard it. The, beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Somewhere far in the distance, echoing down the corridors like a ghostly tune for the dead to dance to. It got faster and faster, the delay between beeps getting shorter until it sounded like one solid line. Celestia turned. Right behind her, was a creature from nightmares. From the depths of Tarturus. Celestia couldn't make out a definite shape only that it was tall. It was, simply, just blackness, blades, and teeth, so many tiny razor sharp teeth, gleaming down at her as it loomed over her. Then Celestia did something she hadn't done in over a thousand years. She screamed. As she did, the creature screamed it's own ghastly, horrible scream. Thinking fast, Celestia backed up flared her horn. Nothing happened. 'PLAN B!' Celestia turned and galloped down the hallway, her horseshoes thundering loudly, and echoing down the corridor.

The corridor was lit dimly by small lights on either side that somehow stayed on despite no magic. That's when she realized what was missing. She couldn't feel the presence of magic. None at all. For some reason, this urged Celestia onward. Behind her, the monster hissed and wailed in predatory rage as it chased the regal equine down the darkened hallway.

A door! It was just a few hooves away. Celestia's legs screamed in protest as she pushed herself farther. 'RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!' She screamed in her mind as she got closer and closer to the door. Finally, she reached it, and just as she broke through the portal, the monster's claws raked down her backside, leaving long bloody trails in their wake. Celestia howled in pain, something else she hadn't felt in over a thousand years, and tumbled into the room. Behind her, the door slammed closed just before the monster could get in.

Celestia sat for a few moments, licking her wounds and silently sobbing. 'Stop this at once.' She thought to herself. 'You are Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, the symbol of all that is good in the world, and you will NOT sit here and wallow in your own self pity, get up!' Celestia, cleaned the rest of the blood from her back, and nodded to herself, before standing and examining her new surroundings. The room was square with one other door, and a small opening on the same wall a few hooves away. Tables were scattered around the room, along with strange objects that looked similar to the object that Twilight had recovered. Celestia started to walk towards the door, still looking around the room. Celestia took a deep breath, and attempted to open the door. It didn't budge, it was as if somepony had sealed it shut.

Then, she heard it again. Beep! Beep! Beep! Celestia froze, and quickly turned to face the door she'd come in from. Beep! Beep! Beep! It was getting faster again. 'It means it's getting closer.' How Celestia knew this was beyond her, but she backed up until her backside bumped into the sealed door. Beep! Beep! Beep! Celestia started to inch her way down the wall towards the small opening. Beep! Beep! Beep! Celestia reached the opening and started to duck down, her eyes never leaving the door. Beep!Beep!Beep! 'Where is it?' She thought. Beeeeeeeeeeeeep!” Then, it came from above. Like a hellish reverse surprise party, the lights shot off, and turned a deathly red as the monsters started to drop down from the ceiling like oversized spiders.

Celestia squeaked in fear, and dove into the small opening, which led to an equally small corridor. Celestia squatted and galloped down, forging ahead despite the noises she heard behind her. 'Oh how I wish I wasn't an alicorn right now!'

Ahead, Celestia saw that the corridor split. Left or right? Right! Celestia quickly turned the corner. There was no time to react as right in front of her, was a chute that curved to the side like a long enclosed slide. With no time to flare her wings, Celestia plummeted down into the chute screaming. After what seemed like hours of sliding down the chute, it turned level with the ground, and deposited her roughly onto more grated floor. She was getting really sick of that.

Celestia looked up in time to see a small tan spider-like thing with six long spindly legs. Celestia let out one final scream before the thing leaped onto her face, and wrapped its long tail around her throat. Then, it began to squeeze.

Celestia didn't know how long she was out, but when she woke, she found that she couldn't move, and nor did she want to. She was cocooned like at Shining Armor's wedding, except this was different. Queen Chrysalis had been bad sure, but this... this was different. While Chrysalis and Discord had been bad to evil, whatever these things were didn't want her love or to pull pranks and cause chaos. They wanted her blood to be spilled across these grated metal floors.

She felt so weak and tired, like all the energy had been sucked out of her. Then, she heard it. The sound of running. Whatever it was, was definitely equine in nature and was getting closer.

That's when she came. She barreled through the door, panting and holding back sobs. It was her student, Twilight Sparkle. “T-T-Tw-Twilight.” Celestia groaned She didn't know just how weak she was until she said that. Talking was a monumental task, she felt so tired. So tired.

“Princess!” Twilight cried out in a shocked and horrified voice. 'That bad huh?' Celestia tried to say, but it just wouldn't come out.

Twilight started to dash to her aid, but was stopped when Celestia barked out “No!” It wasn't quite her royal Canterlot voice, but it worked. Celestia felt a warm liquid running down her muzzle, and realized, 'I'm crying?' Being the ruler of a country, you didn't have time to cry! But she couldn't help it. Her student, whom she loved more than almost anything else alive, was trapped in the hell with her. She saw Twilight's eyes drift to her left, and widen. 'Oh horseapples.'

“Run.” Celestia said weakly as she felt the monster descend from it's perch behind her. Twilight started to back up, shaking her head slowly in denial as the hellish beast crawled directly on Celestia's battered form. “Run.” Celestia repeated, weaker this time, while the monster transitioned from Celestia to the floor, slowly creeping towards her student, who stumbled backwards and fell. Everything was getting darker, and her field of vision was fading. All she could see was that beast about to destroy her student. “Run.” She mumbled, almost incoherently, as the beast fell forward. She watched as Twilight leaped up, and fled out of a door that had opened up across from Celestia, the beast giving chase.

Then, Celestia slipped into a deep sleep. Two hours later, while still unconscious, Celestia's chest began to thud harder and faster. There was a ripping noise, like a book being torn, then a crunching noise. With a sickening CRUNCH Celestia's chest was ripped open in an explosion of blood and bone. And what came out was a small tan larve, with a single tail, four small apendages, and small webbed wings. The princess was dead, and this new breed, would take her place.

----Canterlot Castle, Celestia's quarters, Equestria----

Celestia gave another shudder as she recalled the dream. There was nothing like what she'd seen, anywhere in Equestrian folklore. The closest they came to was Discord with it's tail. And those teeth. Celestia quickly got off her bed, suddenly not wanting to be near it. She walked to the window and gazed out over her peaceful land. Something big was coming. Who was it that said, “A storm is coming, and neither colt nor mare can see it?” Maybe Equine Allen Poe. He'd been a troubled colt, but he meant well. Celestia didn't know if he was the one to say that quote, but it certainly applied here. And something, deep deep within her knew, that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen soon.

----Canterlot guest room five, Equestria----

Ah'll be darned if ah know.” Applejack said as she eyed the small clipboard and paper in front of her. Next to her was Rarity and Rainbow Dash The clipboard wasn't that unusual, and the paper certainly wasn't either, no, it was what was written on the paper.

Combat Dropship Omega Series

1. Weapons diagnostics optimal
   
2. Thrusters and boosters operational
   
3. Fuel and hydrogen checked
   
4. Landing gear operational
   
5. Cargo secured
   
6. Hull optimal
   
7. Cargo ramp operational
   
8. Coordinates locked

Signed: Cpl. Archer Flynn, pilot

Pvt. Karl German, co-pilot

Aside from the signatures at the bottom, the letters were oddly shaped. Then, Rarity realized why. “My goodness, whoever wrote this has perfect writing. She was right of course, as the letters were perfectly spaced, and perfectly written.

“If ya ask me, it don't seem raht.” Applejack said, eying the paper cautiously.

“Maybe Twilight'll want to see it.” Rainbow Dash suggested. The group nodded, and with Rarity holding the clipboard, they started down the lavish red carpeted hallway. “Where did you find it anyway AJ? Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered next to her two friends.

“Ah, don't know where it came from, ah just woke up an' it was just lahing on the floor.” She responded.

“Hmm, maybe somepony snuck into your room.” Rainbow Dash said, causing Applejack cast her a glare.

“Ah don't think that's the case RD.” She said bluntly.

“However it got there, I think Twilight will gladly take a gander.” Rarity said as she levitated the clipboard back in front of her, taking another look. “Speaking of, do any one you know where Twilight is?” Rarity asked raising one eyebrow.

Applejack nodded and said, “Yep, she was headin' to them new exhibits to review what she'd teleported.” She received looks from both Rainbow Dash and Rarity at her choice of words. “Or, that's what princess Cadence told me.” She added quickly.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity both said, “Ah.” at the same time, whilst looking teasingly at Applejack.

Applejack grunted, and lowered her stetson hat, before storming ahead. “C'mon you two, let's go.” Rarity and Rainbow Dash both gave a slight giggle, before following Applejack towards the Science Exhibit.

----Coordinates 93o north and 102o east, Planet LV-426----

Hudson's stomach grumbled in protest to it's lack of sustenance, to which Hudson replied, “Yeah, Yeah, keep barking, it won't get you anywhere.” Just as he finished that, his stomach gave a particularly loud rumble. Hudson grumbled, and checked the GPS of the surveyor. He'd been on the road, or, the wastes, for a good two days, and he was running out of water, and had already depleted his food rations the night before. After he'd escaped the colony, he'd hauled ass out of there going a good two hundred miles an hour through the rugged, desolate terrain. The result was that his shocks were close to blowing, and his ass hurt like a mother fucker. After a while, he'd forgotten all about the detonation of the plant, that is, until a bright light suddenly illuminated the area around him in a glowing yellowish green light. Then, it all came back in a flash, quite literally, as there was an earth shattering BOOM! A few seconds later. “Fuck me!” Hudson shouted, as he slammed his foot harder on the gas, only to find it'd been slammed the whole time. 'A mushroom cloud the size of Nebraska.' Fuck if Hudson knew how big Nebraska was – hell, he didn't even know what Nebraska was, being born on the planet Rabookse – All he knew, was that it was big. Really, really big. “ Goooo you bitch!” Hudson screamed as he as he looked into the review mirror, the light nearly blinding him. “Gah!” He shouted as he recoiled his head away, and waited for the spots to retreat. 'I wonder what the rest of the team's doing?' He wondered to himself as he drove at breakneck speeds, weaving in and out between jagged rocks. 'Probably dying.' Hudson thought cynically to himself as he glanced at his illuminated surroundings. The distant roar finally dulled down to a rumble, as Hudson sped onward, whooping and hollering to no one but himself.

That had been two days ago, and he was running out of water. GPS showed nothing for another couple thousand miles. 'Great.' Hudson thought as he continued, going a slow fifty miles an hour to save on gas, another entity he was running low on. Hudson's eyes flicked briefly to the fuel gauge, which was in the red. The motion tracker lay in the passenger seat next to him, silent, something Hudson was thankful for.

Then, he saw it. A large building, seemingly camouflaged from bird's eye view. “What the hell?” Hudson muttered as he continued towards the unknown structure.

When he got there, Hudson reached a perimeter fence with a large sliding door which was left open. The first thing he thought was, 'Well, fuck this, I'm going somewhere else.' Right there, as soon as he'd reached the perimeter wall, was a bloody corpse, slightly buried in dust and grit, slumped against the wall next to the door.. Then, Hudson remembered, there was no “Somewhere else.” This was it. Hudson groaned, reluctantly shifted gears, and slowly drove through the open gate. Hudson drove slowly through the compound to what looked like the main administrator building. There was no one moving. Hudson reached over and scooped up his motion tracker and M11 pistol. “Shit.” He muttered, and grounded to a halt in front of the admin building.

Behind him, covered in dust and ash from the nearby explosion, was, “Wayland Yutani Scientific Research Outpost Alpha. Restricted Access, Trespassers will be shot.” The final word was splattered with blood.

----Wayland Yutani Cooperation Marine transport vessel “War Game”----

“Load up! Combat seating, Go! Go! Go!” Macklin ordered, as he hustled his marines into the APC. The marines were now clad in their customized armor, sporting decals and phrases. Most notably, was Rin's which had, バグストンパーズ、私たちは種を危険にさらす or, “Bug Stomper, we endanger species”, in Japanese. After helping Thomas in, Macklin climbed aboard the APC, and took seat in the back.

Houston was up front driving, along with King and Thomas, who accompanied her. O'Brien threw the door shut, and fell backwards into his seat opposite to the door. With a thumbs up from Macklin, the APC lurched forward, commanded by Houston, towards the waiting dropship.

Houston guided the APC up the ramp and into the bowels of the ship. When the APC leveled out in the cargo hold of the dropship, Houston saw German standing in the doorway leading to the cockpit. When the APC halted, German rushed forward, and flipped the switch next to the idle APC, lifting the ramp, and locking it in place. He then turned and hurried back into the cockpit with Flynn.

“Flynn you read?” Macklin asked from within the APC, testing his comm link.

“Read you five-by.” Flynn responded, flipping off the landing gear, and boosting the thrusters slightly to elevate them off the ground. “Procced with docking.” Flynn said calmly to his co-pilot.

In the APC, the marines sat in silence. All except for Sheckly and Samuels, who were argued back and forth until Macklin cut them short. The marines felt a small bump as the ship was locked into the dock. “Disengaging in, three. Two. One. With the flip of a switch, the drop ship was unleashed from the War Game with a slight shake. The ship hovered there weightlessly beside the ship for a few seconds before Flynn hit the thrusters, and sent the ship plummeting towards the planet surface.

Ralph Cook was starting to look sick, as he did with every drop mission. Luckily for him – and everyone else – he never got anything more than a little nauseous. As if a polar opposite, Thomas was in the back next to Macklin, and not sweating a bead. 'Cool character.' Tiberius thought as he heard Flynn say, “Breaching atmosphere in, five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark.” As he said “Mark.” The ship was hit with a shuddering quake as it slammed into LV-426's atmosphere, and raced downwards.

As they decsended, the moods of the marines faded quickly as it did every time. This was no longer just a planned mission, this was happening. Most marines closed their eyes and just waited for it to be over. Thomas was still staring straight ahead, along with Hudson, who's eyes burned with vengeance. No one had told Hudson what they'd found out about his brother's mission. All he knew, was that whoever was down there, probably had something to do with his brother's failed mission. He would find them. And he would kill them. Slowly.

----Wayland Yutani Scientific Outpost Alpha, Planet LV-426----

Major Joel Reed held the M11 pistol to his head. In the dark security office, he could hear those things pounding on the door outside. BAM BAM BAM. He didn't know what the eggheads called them, xeno somethings. All he had to do was protect the place, and he'd get a nice fat check. Well, all that went to shit when one of those fucking things got loose. Now, they were everywhere, and they'd killed everyone.

Before him were twenty different monitors, all showing different parts of the outpost. He'd seen some fucked things. A few hours ago, he'd seen a scientist – he forgot his name – running from one of those things like a bat outta hell. There was no volume as he'd been requesting for weeks now, and they'd never contacted him about it. There was a pistol at the end of the corridor next to the bloody corpse of corporal Matt Wilkes. The scientist dove for the gun, but never used it. Reed didn't know why, he just laid there, with his back to the camera, then the thing fell onto him, and started to drag him back down the hallway, kicking and screaming. Reed didn't know where he went, and he didn't really care either. The motion tracker next to Reed was beeping wildly as it read the movement of those alien fucks beating on the door. BAM BAM BAM 'Do it you cowered!' Sweat dripped down Reed's face and onto the black barrel of the pistol, staining it a dull gray, before running off the side and dripping to the floor. 'Do it!' Reed's finger tightened on the trigger. 'Do-' He stopped in mid thought as he saw a small surveyor roll into the compound, the camera catching a man driving, but Reed couldn't make out details. 'Maybe...' The man popped open the door and hopped out, holding a motion tracker in one hand, and a M11 pistol in the other. His face showed the face of someone who just didn't give a shit anymore. Reed watched with hopeful awe, the gun still at his temple. The man stopped just in front of the main research facility, looked around, then approached the door.

As Reed expected, the door didn't open, as the quarantine safeguard had been activated, effectively sealing the research facility. The unknown man soundlessly cursed, and started talking to himself, though Reed couldn't understand what he was saying. The man then did something that Reed hadn't expected, he started to hack the door control. 'Marines maybe? He certainly looks it. But what's he doing out here?' Reed thought and shifted his gaze to the door camera, giving him a good look at the man. The camera was just above the door control, giving Reed optimal viewing. He was only about thirty, or late twenties, with medium blond hair and a face that needed a shave. Sure enough, the man started to fiddle with the controls before swearing again. He face-palmed, and continued to hack the door. It took a few minutes, the whole time Reed kept the pistol to his head, and the man kept swearing under his breath. Finally, the door slid open, and the man quickly raised both the motion tracker and the pistol, aiming them both into the lobby of the research building.

Reed shifted his gaze once more to view the next camera, giving him a view of the interior lobby. The lights were still on, giving the room proper illumination. Directly in front of the man was a massive bloodstain. It looked like too much blood for one person to hold, and looked more suitable for the body of a horse. That wasn't the only bloodstain either. The lobby had been the last stand, with the scientists and civilians, and even a few guards, frantic to escape the facility before the lock down. They hadn't made it. It'd been a bloodbath, and Reed saw it all. Blood decorated the walls around the door, but there were no bodies. Reed didn't know why, but the things took all the bodies and people to the reactor level of the facility. That's when things had gotten weird. No, not just weird, scary. The things destroyed the cameras on that level. It'd been the most terrifying thing Reed had ever witnessed. One minute he's watching the things drag people with blades to their throats, the next one of those fuckers is right in the camera like some fucked up horror game. The camera lost connection shortly after.

The man scanned the room, before turning and jogging back to the surveyor. “No.” Reed whispered quietly. BAM BAM BAM Reed jumped in his chair, the pistol wavering, then he focused back on the cameras. The man opened one of the back doors, and reached inside, holstering his motion tracker. What he withdrew with, confirmed Reed's presumption, this man was definitely marines. In his hold was the standard issue body armor for the Colonial Marine Corp. He slipped it on, and tightened the straps, before jogging back to the lobby, and slowly preceding inside.

Reed's gun fell from his temple. 'There might be hope yet.' BAM BAM BAM

--------Wayland Yutani Scientific Outpost Alpha, Planet LV-426----

Larsen awoke with a pounding headache, and feeling like he'd just downed a few liters of ninety proof vodka. “W-What?” He mumbled, as he slowly opened his eyes. 'Oh no.' He knew exactly where he was. The nest. Sure enough, when he looked around the room, there were other people strung up like he was. He recognized Mathew from Sector G, and Kate from accounting. They were both dead. And Larsen knew why. He also knew that he was next. Just as he finished that thought, he felt an awful pain in his chest. “Guk!” He chocked out, before the larvae inside him pounded at his ribcage once more. “N-N-No!” He stumbled, before the larvae slammed into his ribs, smashing them and bursting out of Larsen's chest. Larsen stared numbly at it as it protruded from his chest, before his head slumped, and his breathing abruptly ended. The larvae squirmed and wiggled it's way out of it's host's body, before landing on the floor with a splat! There was now another drone to serve the Queen.