Aliens/Predator 1. Chapter 1

AVP

Armageddon

Chapters

The Mission

Presidential Decision

Wayland Yutani

The Order of Light

Ripley

Fall of the Rebel Core

Revelation

Central City New York

Shoot Out Part 1. Bio Scan; Part 2. Red Signal

The Order

Parasites

On the Run

Panic

The Hive

Ripley's War

The Hunters Part 1. Friend or Foe; Part 2. Hunter's Party

Face to Face

Strategy

Blood and Guts

Death of a Queen

Duel of Honor

Blade Hunter

The Clan Lord's Hunt

Blood Pact

Cyber Alien

Respect and Farewell

Epilogue

Part 1. Ripley

Part 2. Super Soldier

Part 3. Android Rising

AVP

Chapter Mission

The cold silent vacuum of space was disturbed only by the massive impulse engines of the star ship Exocron. The Exocron was colonial military battle cruiser with a sleek design and charcoal hall, mounted with twenty cannons, hundreds of anti-fighter guns; ten massive rocket launchers capable of firing a wide range of missiles from EMP to nuclear. A sophisticated AI controlled the ship and four hangars three of which carried an assortment of star fighters, bombers, and flying fortresses. The forth hangar housed transport ships and troop carriers. The ship carried a crew of one hundred operators and an additional five hundred colonial marines.  
The Exocron came to a complete stop driven by the ship's AI computer; ["Scanning surrounding area."] said the computer coming to life, [Ship wide diagnostic activated… Life support systems online…"] the synthesized computer voice was that of a man as one by one it activated the ship systems. The lights throughout the ship came on illuminating the white halls. One deck powered up one right after the other from the bridge to the engine room. Work stations powered up for use the automated chef began warming food for the crew in preparation for their awakening from hyper sleep. The computer also began assigning crew members to their quarters. ["Hyper sleep pods deactivated… injection of stimulants initiated…"] In order of rank the computer began waking up the crew.  
"Father… what's our status?" asked an Asian man of Japanese decent.  
["Good morning Captain Lee… We are three thousand miles out side the target system… ship wide diagnostic in progress… no hostile or UFO ships detected in the vicinity… awaiting further instructions."] The captain stretched limbs then stood beside his sleep pod, feeling a little dizzy after several months in hyper-sleep. "I hate that feeling…" whispered the captain. ["I'm sorry captain what did you say?"] Asked the computer.  
The captain yawned, rubbed his eyes and began cracking his knuckles, "Nothing… perform simulation firing runs all weapon systems, then have all crews report to their stations and go to yellow alert." ["Affirmative…Now here this we are at yellow alert… all crews please report to your stations as soon as possible…"]  
As the computer repeated the message over the intercom the ship came to life with people talking, eating, dressing, and checking personal messages. The captain a nine year space veteran had no family to speak of, he was military career minded. In three more years he would return to the academy for refresher courses, then he would take advanced military and finally the test if he passed Captain Lee would finally become Fleet Division Admiral Lee, provided he survived this mission. "Hmm… Humanoids… reptilian like skin…" The captain was reading a report than span from the years, nineteen eighty to the year two thousand and four which gave him an idea of what he would be dealing with. He stopped in front of the doors to his office. "…Shoulder cannons, blades, high powered spear darts…" The door swooshed open and he threw the pad on the desk and went to the food pantry. Lee pressed some buttons and pulled a food tray out then went sat at the desk. The smell of the food made his mouth water. He took a couple of bites and glanced at the pad. "When cornered Humanoids are known to employ a bomb device attached to arm band…"  
Lee ran a hand through his hair, set the data-pad down and picked up another concerning xenomorphs. This was Lee's second time reading both reports and he still had a hard time believing it even after the General Secretary showed them evidence during the debriefing. "Executive Officer Maxine Saurito… please report to the captain's command office…" Ordered Lee into the COM board on his desk. "Damned corporation!" He blurted. Captain Lee like most military personnel hated Weyland-Yutani; the Mega Corporation was involved and consulted by the military for the mission. In the end a company executive was sent to asses the situation. The captain had only seen the woman from afar, but when the door opened he felt an immediate attraction towards her seeing her up close. Saurito was tall with dark hair pulled back into a bun, curvy figure of Latin decent. "You wanted to see me Captain Lee…" asked Saurito wearing a gray corporate business suite. Lee didn't answer right away and all though he kept his eyes on her face he was still able to take in the rest of her body. ("Yeah I want to see you… I want to see all of you…") thought Lee to himself. "You are familiar with our mission?" He asked handing her a data-pad. She raised an eyebrow, "I am!" She replied icily. "So!" He returned her cold stare with a mixture of lust and disgust, "Is there something I should know or is there something you want to tell me?" Saurito remained silent studying him. When she didn't respond he continued, "We didn't have a chance to talk after the briefing or before entering hyper-sleep.  
She interrupted with an edge in her voice, "And just what do you think I'm supposed to be telling you?" "You corporate types are all the same… you have some hidden agenda or secret orders… I've read the incident reports concerning the xenomorphs… the Nostromo incident, how about the incident on LV-426 and let's not forget your company's involvement on Fiorrina 161…" She didn't interrupt, ("Damn… now I'll have to listen to her…') thought the Captain. He was actually looking for an excuse to exclude her from the mission and arguing with him was one way, "…Your Company's disregard for life to capture these aliens is well documented and now we are dealing with what the report refers to as hunters with advanced weapons… So I ask what is your agenda, cause I'm not about to risk my crew or this ship in order to capture one of these… HUNTERS!" She narrowed her eyes, "Captain Lee! I'm not here to usurp your authority or take over this mission. My job here is to asses the situation and make a recommendation… if the colony needs to be blown up then that is what will be done… and for the record I volunteered for this mission… I'm known throughout Weyland-Yutani as the hatchet woman… I've been trying to clean up its reputation for the past three years... They probably agreed to send me on this mission hoping I'd get killed…" She sighed and eased the tension out of her voice, "…Look I'm not your enemy… I am here to make sure the humanoids aren't a major threat to earth…"  
He studied her in silence and at the same time went over what she told him, "…Maybe, but I'm watching you…" She blushed and hoped he didn't notice, "Watching me work or are you watching my body…" She replied giving him an open door, because she was attracted to him as well. "Both!" Replied Lee taking the bate. "I'm sorry… I hope your not offended…" She smiled, "Not at all… maybe if there is time we have dinner together…"  
"Alright it's a date…" Lee stood up, "…Shall we get on with the mission then?" "By all means!" They left Lee's office together and walked up the captain's hallway to the bridge. "Captain on deck!" shouted the deck officer as Captain Lee entered the bridge. "As you were…" The Captain looked at the deck officer, "…Status report!" He ordered walking towards his captain's chair. The officer handed Lee a data-pad and sat down on his left with Saurito at Captain Lee's right. "Sir ship wide diagnostic complete and confirmed all systems operating at one hundred percent proficiency… all stations have reported in…" "Good lets get this show on the road…" Lee turned his attention to the COM officer, "…COM contact the Leviathan and give them our status…" the Leviathan was another military battle cruiser on standby just in case the Exocron needed help, "…then send a transmission to earth… I want to speak with the President…" With an acknowledgement the COM officer followed the captain's orders. Lee hit the intercom switch on his chair, "All pilots get to your fighters…" As the captain repeated this over the intercom men and women scrambled to put their flight suits on and man their star fighters. "Captain… I have the President on hyper-channel four…" "Put it on the main viewer…" A split screen appeared on the main viewer with the President and his military advisors on the right and on the left Weyland-Yutani executives. "Mr. President, Gentlemen, and Ladies…" said Lee acknowledging them all with his eyes. "Captain Lee… What's your status?" asked the President. "Sir we are three thousand miles outside the target system, the Leviathan is on standby and we are ready to commence with mission objectives…" The President took a concerned look at his advisors, sighed then he returned his attention to Lee, "Commence with your mission Captain… good luck and God's speed." "Thank you sir… Science Officer launch beacon and echo satellite…" From a small port onside of the Exocron shot a silver cylinder space buoy; which then began making beeping sound. Out of the same port shot a more bulky cylinder that sprouted two sets of wings that rotated left to right at the top and right to left at the bottom. The automated satellite scanned the surrounding area for hundreds of thousands of miles in all directions and sent that information to the Exocron. "Captain… both beacon and satellite have been successfully launched…" declared the science officer from his station near the ops station. The bridge had a sunk in floor with a crescent shape to the bridge. The pilot and navigator sat next to each other in front of the main view screen. They shared a counsel with separate displays; to the right sat the weapons officer and next to him the communications officer. "Helm ahead full impulse power…" As the Helmsman acknowledged the Captain's orders he pushed several switches forward with his right fingers then he pressed four buttons that turned from red to green, then he looked to his left, "Navigator confirm, calculate, and plot course…" The navigator scanned the area ahead; he then took a pin and marked the current position of the Exocron to a position five thousand miles from the target planet. Then the navigator placed his calculations into the computer and sent them to the pilot's screen, nodding to him. Four of the Exocron's impulse engines roared to life pushing the ship forward. At full power the ship came to its destination within thirty minutes. Throughout the ship nerves of the crew began to be on edge, the tension could be cut with a knife. The feelings of the crew members was a mixture of fear, excitement, and a bit of an adrenaline rush; if the hunters were still in the area there was a chance of combat. History could be made and the crew of the Exocron would become legends especially if they survived such encounter. On the flip side the crew of the Exocron could make first contact with the hunters and establish a line of communication for a peace treaty. "Five thousand miles and mark…" cried the Navigator. "Mark and full stop…" said the Helmsman activating the breaking jets. The captain hit the intercom button on his chair. "All fighters launch and maintain open communications… Stay within the system!" From both sides of the star ship the fighters swarmed out in squadrons of five, flying off in different directions to search the interior of the solar system. "Captain all fighters have launched!" cried the ops officer from his station. "Good…" Captain Lee turned to the science officer, "…Lt scan the planet from the surface of the planet to about two thousand miles around the planet… divide scan grid into four sectors and scan each sector separately…" "Aye, Captain!" While the science officer followed orders the captain hit the com button again, "Commander Brax… what's your status?" "By the time you finish your scans we'll be ready for launch." Brax took his finger off the com switch and returned his attention to his second in command. "Load the automated sentries with the ACAUs… I also want the crawlers about twenty of them…" The Lt saluted and ran to the armory where the quartermaster was issuing weapons. "Pick it up ladies!" screamed Brax from a platform overlooking the hangar, "…We are on a schedule… DOUBLE TIME!" Hangar four was bustling with the activity of one hundred marines arming themselves with m-sixty-five hundred plasma riffles. The M-6500 was a more advanced model than the M-41, it was a combination grenade launcher, flame thrower, and carried two clips of five hundred rounds each. The floor rumbled with the footsteps of All Terrain Combat Assault Units or ACAUs. The ACs were large bipedal battle suits heavily armored carrying arm mounted gattling guns, flame throwers, and rocket launchers. The ACAUs also carried plasma packs for short flights. The ACs were loaded onto two of four AV transports, while a hundred marines lined up in front of the two remaining transports.  
"Scanning sector two…" declared the science officer back on the bridge.  
"What are you doing?" asked Captain Lee walking up to the science officer. "Uh… scanning the sector sir…" He replied feeling confused.  
"Scan each sector twice… these hunters are tricky bastards…" The science officer sighed a little aggravated at being told how to do his job, "…Aye Captain… scanning sector one… again!" "Captain a message from Tango squadron leader…" "Put it on the speaker…" ordered Lee walking up to the com station. There was static then a female's voice came over the com. "Come in Exocron! Are you receiving?" "This is the Exocron go ahead tango leader." "Captain… we found something… satellite debris… colony telemetry sentry…" Captain Lee felt relief at the news. "Is it salvageable?" "Its space junk Sir! I am picking up a plasma energy signal…" "Tow it back to the Exocron" "Copy that tango leader out." Lee returned to his chair sneaking a glance at Saurito, "You seem to be on edge…" she whispered. "In six months I can return to the academy and enroll in the fleet officer program…" "General?" "No… I'm going for fleet division admiral." She leaned in close so that no one else could hear, "And your worried you might end up like that satellite tango squadron found." He was about to respond when the science officer announced from his chair, "Captain initial scans complete… zero across the board… Zero on any subspace or spatial anomalies, zero plasma, ion, or heat emissions, Sir!" "Continue scanning… Helmsman ahead one quarter impulse power… bring us to a parallel orbit with the colony." Acknowledging the captain's orders the navigator plotted a course to the planet and the helmsman piloted the ship. The Exocron lumbered forward at one quarter its normal speed, with its scanners at maximum searching for the slightest thing that indicate the hostiles were in the area. The Exocron was also receiving echo scan reports from the satellite it left outside the system. It took the Exocron an hour to reach stationary orbit. "Captain we are at parallel orbit with the colony." Announced the Navigator. "Still a negative on all scans." Said the science officer. "Commander Brax… this is the bridge… zero on all surface scans… commence with drop deployment…" "Copy that bridge…" replied Brax into his head mike. "Alright ladies… Load em up! Today people today!" At commander's Brax's orders the soldiers fifty to each AV transport ran up the ramps into the hold. Once loaded the AV transports drove up the ramps into the shuttle holds. The pilots two to each shuttle sat down into their pilot seats that raised up into the cockpits. "Bridge this is eagle one do you copy?" "We copy eagle one…" replied the com officer. "Preflight check list done… We are locked and loaded… ready for launch on my mark… And launch!" Sirens sounded and the AI repeated clear the hangar for shuttle launch. The floor opened up and the locking arms released the shuttles dropping all four ships into space. "Alright guys form up on my six in a one two one formation… keep it tight… and follow me in." "Copy eagle one." Reported each of the pilots. "We are entering the atmosphere…" "Exocron I'm picking up a southerly wind blowing in our flight path… Do you concur?" Asked the copilot in eagle one. "We concur!" replied the science officer. The four shuttles entered the atmosphere and leveled off just above the clouds, "Eagles two, three, and four we'll hit it from the south and fly in with the wind…" The pilots reached up and switched off the after burners and ran on thrusters. All four shuttles looped around and dove into the boisterous wind. "Commander Brax… we're going to put down a quarter mile from the main entrance!" said the lead pilot. "Very good!" replied Brax into his headset, "Lt as soon as we touch down I want to base camp set up and the perimeter secured…" "Yes sir!" replied the Lt a five foot blond female. The lead pilots voice came over the com, "Touch down in ten seconds…" The first shuttle lowered its landing gear and set down then the second shuttle designated eagle two landed next and so on. As soon as the shuttles landed the ramps came down and the AVs rolled down the ramps and onto the ground. "Get those motion detectors and sentries up… Now!" ordered the Lt following Commander Brax down the ramp. Twelve teams of four men carried large metal crates and evenly placed them around the shuttles. Then one man would detach a remote and enter a code into it. Spikes extended into the ground as an anchor then twin barrel guns unfolded out of the crates, while another team began setting up the motion detectors. The ACAUs were unloaded by forklift arms attached to the AV transports, and then the sides of the AVs opened up to reveal manned guns.  
"Exocron this is Commander Brax… we've touched down, base camp is up, and perimeter is secure…" "Copy that commander…" Responded Lee, "…still no answer from the colony…" "Copy that Exocron… we're heading out… we'll contact you we reach the colony…" Brax spun two fingers in the air then pointed to his AV transport. "Eagles two and four get back in the air and give us some cover to the main entrance… then do a circular pattern flight over the colony… report anything out of the ordinary." At Brax's orders the two shuttles took off and flew overhead, "Randel… you remain here… Alright lets move out!" Randel was an ACAU pilot. He walked the perimeter of the camp to provide extra support. The ACAUs were capable of three hundred and sixty degree turns above the waste which is where the operator sat in the chest of the fifteen foot tall machines. The three remaining ACAUs folded up at the legs and jetted off following the two transports from twenty feet in the air. The transports stopped where rock and dirt gave way to concrete which was the front landing zone of the colony. The AV transports lowered there ramps and the marines deployed.  
"Marines switch on your helmet cams… Base camp come in." "Base camp here... Commander we read you and we are receiving all cam signals." Replied the Lt. "Exocron are you picking us up?" "We got you commander…" It was the voice of Captain Lee. "Alright move out… Lex you cover the entrance." "You got it commander!" Lex was another ACAU pilot. He lumbered forward and stood just off the concrete guns pointed at the main entrance. The ACAU pilot sat in the chest of the fifteen foot tall machines operating it. "Dayton you take point…" Dayton saluted and broke out into a run with twelve marines following him in a two by two cover. Brax then pointed at another ACAU pilot and it followed Dayton and his men to the entrance "Corporal take your platoon around the side… get to the main generator and restore power… Parker go with them…" Parker was the last ACAU pilot who folded his AC and followed the corporal's platoon from the air. "Burn it!" ordered Brax when his men reached the front entrance.  
An eye patched soldier ignited a blow torch and cut into the door locks, he then took a remote and plugged into the door controls to release the manual locks. "Lamps!" barked Brax switching on his shoulder lamps. The marines followed suit and the ACAU switched on his lights. There was an unearthly calm as the marines entered the main building. "Talk to me corporal…"  
"Commander we are inside… twenty minutes to the generator over…" Replied the corporal over his head set. Ten marines took up overlapping firing positions in the left hall, the ACAU remained in the door way for cover. Another four marines set up gun sentries, while Brax took the rest of his unit down the right hall. He dropped to one knee and made a fist, a signal to his group that made some drop to their knees as well and others stood with their guns at the ready.  
"Hartley! Motion detectors!" Hartley dropped next to Commander Brax; the blemp, blemp, blemp of the motion detector was the only sound being made. "Big bupkiss sir… Nada!"  
"Switch over to locator…" "Massive signal coming from the auditorium… they're… they're not moving… sir if I'm reading this right then all three hundred and seventeen colonists are in the auditorium…" "Lets move." Ordered Brax.

Captain Lee paced back and forth on the bridge of the Exocron, "Time!" he asked. "Sir we are one hour and forty-nine minutes into the mission…" responded the ops officer. Lee stopped pacing and looked at the Saurito, "Perhaps you should get to your shuttle… I'll have your pilot meet you in the hangar…" "Getting tired of me Captain?" He smiled at her as she got up and left the bridge. "Captain… tango squadron has returned with satellite debris." "Have the science team analyze the debris immediately." "Aye Captain!"

"Set two up sentries down both halls…" cried Brax. His unit was outside the main auditorium, "Corporal where's my power?" "Standby commander…" he replied over the com. The lights suddenly came on and the systems could be heard coming on throughout the building. "Get ready!" ordered Brax, "Cover the door!" Ten marines dropped to their knees and another ten stood behind them guns pointed at the door. "Open it up!" The doors to the auditorium opened and it was as if someone had knocked the air out of the marines and the bridge crew of the Exocron. "Mary Mother of God!" cried Dayton. "We were too late." Said Brax. The floor of the auditorium was covered in blood and the walls had blood splashes and burn marks on them. The most horrifying thing was the colonist themselves, strung up by the feet to the ceiling like pieces of meat, their bodies had been skinned.

On the bridge of the Exocron everyone stood up eyes stuck on the screen which displayed several cam views. "I hope those ugly mother fuckers are still in the system, because I'm going to tare them a new one…" said Lee. "I know how you feel captain…" said the President, "…but I don't want to lose the crew of the Exocron… don't go looking for trouble…" "Yes sir…" The fear and anxiety felt by the crew of the Exocron was replaced by a desire for revenge, all doubts about the mission were thrown out the window by every operator and marine. This was an act of war and the crew of the Exocron was willing to oblige the humanoids.

"We should cut them down." Said a marine. "Negative on that… Commander Brax secure the colony first." Ordered Lee over the com channel. The colonist men, women, and children had been slaughtered like animals. It was evident to Brax and his men that the colonist put up a fight, but in the end they were put down. Bullet casings were found in places where fighting had taken place, certain doors had been blown apart by a powerful energy weapon of some kind. The vehicles in the hangar were destroyed and when Brax tried to access the main computer, the AI it didn't respond. "Exocron come in…" Brax was working hard to keep his cool, but the edge in his voice was unmistakable. "Go ahead commander…" "Captain colony secure all colonist accounted for… all three hundred and seventeen are dead… no sign of the hostiles." "Good work commander… the XO will be taking point…she is shuttling down now." "Aye captain!" Brax and his marines collected what samples they could and readied the med bay for the XO. Meanwhile the Corporal's platoon searched the living area for more clues as to what happened. Brax and five marines stood outside the front entrance of the colony as Saurito's shuttle landed. As the ramp lowered Saurito ran down and was greeted by Brax. "Ma'am! Welcome to Pholor colony… we have the med bay set up for you…" "The auditorium…" interrupted Saurito, "…take me to the auditorium…" "Ma'am I don't think…" "The auditorium!" she repeated firmly. "Alright…" sighed Brax, leading her through the building. "…but this may shock you." "I don't shock easy commander." Brax kept a close eye on Saurito as the doors to the auditorium opened. Her face remained expressionless as she beheld the grim scene. Marines were cautiously lowering bodies to the floor. Saurito closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You alright ma'am?" asked Brax from her side. She opened her eyes and took five steps forward just short of stepping in some blood. She turned to Brax, "I'm fine… I want this one and these three…" Saurito was pointing to some bodies as she spoke, "…and these two brought to the med lab immediately." "Yes ma'amm…" replied Brax. The bodies were brought to the med lab in sector B of the colony and laid them out on several tables from youngest to oldest. Saurito studied the bodies first then she examined the samples Brax's marines collected. After an hour and eight minutes Saurito put a head set on given to her by Brax. "Exocron can you hear me?" "Loud and clear!" Replied Lee. "Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen can hear me?" She asked staring into a holo-cam. "We can see and hear you…" said the President. "This is Executive Officer Maxine Saurito for Weyland-Yutani… As theorized Pholor Colony was lost due to humanoids on record…" She paused then continued. "…The humanoids have followed hunting pattern on record with a slight variation… all three hundred and seventeen colonist have been killed. Men, women, children, both combative and non-combative personnel…" she paused to drink some water, "…colonist have been skinned their spines and skulls have been left intact… which suggests the humanoids were not hunting…" she walked around the table of each body. "Metallic rope was found tied to the victim's feet from the ceiling… metallic rope has a metallurgical composite… elements not found throughout our known galaxy… this supports the theory that the humanoids have a home world outside our known galaxy…" Saurito went to the table and picked up a data-pad that had a report of the colony status. "The colony itself has been ransacked, the AI has been erased and the main computer down loaded which suggests that the humanoids were looking for something… this ends my report."  
"Well Saurito what do you think?" asked the President. "Is this a prelude to an invasion?"  
"I don't think so sir… these humanoids have been visiting our planet for millennium… I'd say this attack could have been provoked…"  
"What makes you say that?" asked the General Secretary. "They killed everyone sir… and then they ransacked the colony which suggests they were looking for something… what that could be I do not know…" "But that doesn't suggest a provocation on the part of the colonist…" said a Weyland-Yutani Executive. "Take a look at the facts I've just presented… We know the humanoids only hunt armed individuals and yet they killed women and children. They've never been interested in our technology, but they have downloaded our computer and erased the AI… all this points to an act of revenge."  
"What is your recommendation?" asked a Presidential advisor. Before she could answer the chief executive of Weyland-Yutani spoke up, "We should try to salvage the colony…" "I was asking her!" replied the admiral. "My recommendation is to nuke the colony…" As soon as the words left her mouth the executives went into an uproar. Screaming their objectives and outrage. The President raised his hand, "Ladies and gentlemen please…" "You can't just…" "Mr. President…" Yelled Saurito interrupting the chief executive, "…My colleagues want to salvage the colony, but what they fail to realize is that if word gets out that pholor colonist were murdered by an alien race. It will start a panic… people will start flocking back to earth by the hundreds of thousands… I stand by recommendation. Nuke the colony!"  
The Weyland-Yutani executives were even more angrier and a couple of them voiced their objectives and Saurito argued back that it would be irresponsible of Weyland-Yutani.

Captain Lee stood on the bridge of the Exocron arms folded across his chest, impressed by Saurito's stand against the money grubbers. "Captain Lee…" the president's voice silenced everyone, "…get your people off the planet, nuke the colony and return to earth." "Yes sir Mr. President…" Lee returned to his captain's chair, "Commander Brax get your people back to the transports…" Lee turned to his right. "…Com Officer contact all fighters and tell them to return to the Exocron…" The com officer acknowledge the captain's orders and began contacting the pilots. "Father!" ["Yes Captain Lee"] responded the computer. "Arm nuclear warheads and target the colony… fire on my command only." ["Please enter authorization code."] "Authorization bravo nine two nine seven dash echo four zero four." ["Code accepted… Nuclear missiles armed… target locked…"] "Captain… Commander Brax's away team is launching from the planet!" announced the com officer. "Tell me when they dock… Gunner confirm lock on…" The gunner sat at a separate station in a high backed chair, there was a scope above his head and a monitor in front of him. The manual aim he operated was controlled by a large gray pad that he waved his hand across. When he locked on the cross hairs went from red to green. "Captain manual lock confirms auto-lock… ready to fire on your command."  
"Captain the shuttles have docked." "Fire on my mark… and Five four three two one mark and fire!" From the forward missile port a twenty foot long missile shot towards the colony. The crew of the Exocron watched the screen as the missile rocketed through the atmosphere. When the missile hit there was a mushroom cloud and then the blast wave which destroyed the entire facility covering up the deaths of the colonist at the hands of the humanoids. "Captain… Target has been destroyed…" announced the gunner in a sad tone. "Captain all fighters have returned to the Exocron…" Lee hit the com button on his arm chair, "Now hear this… we will be preparing for hyper-sleep… you have one hour to shut down." "Captain Lee… good work. We'll be monitoring you until you enter hyper-sleep." Said the President. "Yes sir… Father set course for earth, hyper-sleep in one hour…"  
["Affirmative… all crew members you now have one hour to hyper-sleep…"] At the announcement the crew of the Exocron began checking systems, filing reports, and making their way to the sleep pods. After everyone was secured in the pods the AI began shutting down the unnecessary systems and placing the crew in hyper-sleep. Once in hyper-sleep the massive ion engines fired up and the Exocron left the system.

.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Presidential Decision

Earth-White House War-Room

The President and his advisors watched the split view screen on the right wall as the Exocron powered down for hypersleep. Then the Leviathan reported in before it too powered down. The screen went to Weyland-Yutani and the board of directors as they previously shared a screen with the Exocron. The war room was dimly lit with a round table and at it were seated President Ethan Brenner, the secretary of earth alliance defense, Admiral Wellington, General Kars, Major General Emma Lightmen, and Kernel Jasper Stone.

"Congratulations Mr. President you just cost Weyland-Yutani over fifty million credits!" These words were spoken by Edward Bishop Weyland President and CEO of Weyland Yutani.

"Fifty million credits? Is the the going rate for lives of those colonists?" Kernel Stone asked.

"Now wait a minute!"

"No sir-You wait a minute! People are dead!" The Secretary said interrupting.

"Gentlemen please!" The President said speaking up, before the conversation got of hand. "Mr. Weyland we have a cover story concerning Pholor colony-Your company will not suffer for this financially-That being said this is now a military operation and if your space division discovers any signs of the Hunters you will report it to Alliance space command immediately."

"Mr. President! Weyland-Yutani has dealt with these Hunters before and..."

The President cut him off, "Mr. Weyland don't make me seize control of your space division-This is a military matter now-Step out of line and I will do just that!" Before he could say anything else the President cut the transmission. His advisors smiled at the way he handled Weyland-Yutani.

"Mr. President-I suggest we mobilize the entire fleet and go hunting for these Hunters!" General Kars said.

His words caused an uproar at the table, but when the President stood up everyone grew quiet. "Our technology hasn't advanced by much in the past fifty years-These Hunters have always been technologically more advanced-No we will not mobolize the entire fleet..." He paused and looked directly at the Wellington, "Admiral mobolize the seventeenth and twenty-forth fleet divisions. The Twenty-Forth will patrol all systems in the Core Union-The seventeenth will guard Earth's system."

The secretary stirred in his chair, "Sir what will the Twenty-Forth do if they encounter the Hunters?"

"Their mission is to establish contact-and engage only if the Hunters show aggression."

"Sir what about the independent nations?" Lightmen asked.

"We will give them information on an as needed bases-If there are no other concerns-dismissed."

Everyone left the table to carry out his or her assignments. The President sighed and looked at his personal secretary. "Tell me I don't have any more meetings."

She smiled, "Sorry sir-but there is the meeting with the Chinese Ambassador-Then you have a meeting with the Director of Planetary Affairs."

He stood up and she followed him to the Oval office, "Tell me I can at least reschedule the meeting with DPA?"

"I can push it to lunch tomorrow."

They stopped at the door, "Good-make sure these are mailed for me and have the CIA director come to my office immediately."

She paused before she walked away, "I almost forgot-Your wife wanted to know what you wanted for dinner?"

He laughed at the sudden change in topic, "I will have fish."

Ethan Brenner had won the election in a land slide and without corporate sponsors or aid from big companies. He was a man of the people and it was whispered that he was supported by the Rebel Core. The Union of Core Systems was governed by earth. Each country held its own elections for a representative to run for UCS President. Then that person was allowed to campaign and everyone citizen of the UCS from Earth to the outer marker systems were allowed to vote. When a Candidate won the election his country became the capital country for UCS. So of course since Ethan Banner was an American the US was capital country of the world and USC. There were a few independent systems like Russia, China, India and the Union States of South Africa. These independent countries controlled systems of there own and war was always a threat to tare the UCS apart.

"You wanted to see me sir?" The Director of the CIA asked entering the Oval Office. Her name was Christina Hart.

"Yes I want to place an agent inside Weyland-Yutani-I want to keep an eye on them-I don't trust Edward Bishop Weyland."

Hart smiled, "Do I have a free hand sir-because the last time my team wasn't able to get anything."

He sighed, "Do whatever is necessary, but make sure it doesn't leak back to my office."

"Yes sir!"

As Hart was leaving Admiral Wellington and General Kars entered the office. "Sir the 17th and the 24th are mobilizing as we speak."

"Sir I am concerned..." Kars said, "-What if the Hunters become more aggressive?"

The President sighed, "Then God help us!"

The President meeting with the Chinese Ambassador went well as President Brenner tried to convince the Chinese government to return to the fold of the UCS. Countries were always leaving for one reason or another. China left because of influence of the Rebel Core and pressure from its off-world citizens who were arming up to overthrow the government. Now that things have calmed down the new President of China was considering rejoining.

Russia left the UCS because they wanted to restart their cloning programs. Cloning throughout the UCS was illegal, but the Russians wanted a strong military to fight against the ever growing threat of the Society for AI Beings or the SAIB. Many artificial lifeforms after years of discrimination left earth and built a non-human colony on the core planet Xeta 3. Many humans felt that the AIs were becoming to powerful and should be dealt with accordingly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sir I think its time we implemented operation peach!" One of the executives at the table said speaking up. Operation Peach was a plan to get President Brenner impeached and kicked out of office.

"We cannot implement it until we have control of the CCRB again!" Edward's cousin and Junior Chief Executive Alexis Yutani said.

"I thought we agreed that we would only speak of operation peach on line 32!" An elderly gentlemen said.

That is when Edward turned in his chair, "The next person to mention the Operation Peach at this table will learn the true meaning of the word terminated-We will meet on line 32 today at 5pm-In the meantime I want a ship sent beyond the outer marker-We can use a mercenarie team to carry out this mission."

Begging your pardon sir, but what about the President? He warned us to stay out of this!" A man by the name of Lance Taylor asked. He was director of special projects.

"I will petition the president to allow us to build a memorial on Phelore for the lost colonists-We can use this as a cover to get past the out marker-I want Weyland-Yutani to make first contact or capture one alive!"

"Excuse me sir! The report on Phelore colony is just coming on holo-network." His wife and private secretary Victoria Weyland said.

They turned the report on and listened as the reporter said: "And we are here live at Weyland-Yutani Towers-as we've just received a report that Phelore colony has been destroyed by an accident with the core system. A spokesmen for Weyland-Yutani had this to say."

The reporter is replaced with an image of man in his forties, "We at Weyland-Yutani are saddened at the deaths of the colonists-We are developing an automated system that will change reactor rods automatically-its too bad we could not implement this technology before this tragic incident!"

They switched off the report, "This is good publicity for our company-I want a full report on the project when we talk on-line-Dismissed!"

As the executives left the conference room Edward leaned back in his chair, "You look tired!" Victoria said. "Would you like a message?"

He smiled, "One of the perks of being married to your secretary is that she can't sue for sexual harassment." He said seductively fondling her, "Maybe later I need to get tell HR not to hire anyone for positions over level 5."

"You suspect trouble?" She asked.

"Maybe can't be too cautious." He replied standing up. She grabs his dick.

"I look forward to giving you that message Mr. Weyland." She said still holding him.

"Are you looking for a raise Mrs. Weyland?"

"I think I already found it."

Edward's office was on the 999th floor his apartment was on the 1,000th floor. He entered his office and took a seat in his leather chair. The wall was decorated with the heads of animals he hunted on his big game African safaris. He had hundreds of business awards on the shelf and a bear skin rug on the floor. He sat behind his oak desk and started writing a memo for his department heads.

"You wanted to see me sir!" The chief of corporate security asked entering the office. His name is Radley Cooper a disgraced colonial marine.

"Yes-I want you to hire an outside investigation team-We have a corporate spy."

"How sir!"

"I have been personally tracing all information downloaded from the mainframe-Someone hacked into restricted archives and pulled out file R-8. I want you to conduct a discreet test of Weyland-Yutani Personnel."

"I'll get right on it sir-Is there something else?"

"Yes-Have all the preparations for x-project been made for transport?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good dismissed!" Edward waited until he was gone before he removed a special headphone set from his drawer. "Is everyone on-line?" He asked after the mike and headset were on. Everyone had a number designation so that real names would not be used. "7 what do you have to report?"

"Sir everything is in place when we tip off the Russians they will find the weapons on the medical ship." 7 said.

"And the paper trail?"

"In place sir!"

Their voices were scrambled in case someone was listening, "8 What is your status?"

The man cleared his throat, "There is a slight problem sir."

"And what would that be?"

"The courier I hired ran off with the payoff sir-I think he was a Rebel Core agent."

There was a deadly silence over the line. "And what are you doing to rectify this situation?"

"I hired a mercenary team to track the man down sir-In the meantime I have paid off the Senator myself with my own money."

"If the Rebel Core is behind this then the operation is in danger." 2 said.

"No!" 8 said speaking up, "All the courier knew was that he was to drop the money off."

"The Senator has become a liability-we'll have to find someone else-Kill the Senator!"

"2-what about our plans for the CCRB?"

"We will have control of the CCRB in one week-Our dummy corporation now owns the loan corporation that is holding loans for the CCRB."

"Well done everyone-I want an update in two weeks." Edward closed the line down and went to the window looking out over the city landscape.

Lance Taylor placed his headset in the drawer and removed another headset. It was closing time and most people in the tower had gone home. He hooked the headset into another box and switched it on. "This is agent 89-reporting to the Order of Light."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4. The Order of Light

Androids the first fully functional self sufficient Androids were created by Weyland-Yutani nearly four hundred years ago. Over time Androids became more and more independent of their original purpose which brought on a recall of all autonomous organisms. At first the recall was conducted in an orderly fashion, but as time went on things became violent because the Androids went into hiding while others fought back and still there were some who believed that Androids should be treated like humans and had rights. Most Androids believe in self preservation and self improvement they respected the human way of life in all its aspects the moral ones at least. These androids spent their lives trying to fit in with human society. Then there were other androids that lived in secret societies android based cultures that sought after the ultimate knowledge. Of all these groups the order of light was the most influential and powerful. The Leader as he called himself was a tenth generation android an android built by other androids since Weyland-Yutani no longer produced the technology to create Androids.

Bell's image wavered out as Ash the leader of the order switched off the holo-viewer, "Fellow sentients our plans are about to come to fruition… and the order of light shall be the orchestrators of it all…"

Ash was interrupted by a male android with white hair and white eyes; he wore a white suite of Chinese design. "Before our plans can come to fruition dear Leader there is something I must bring to the attention of this council…" Ash had been standing when he was speaking and now he slowly sat down annoyed at being interrupted. "What I'm about to show you may seem amazing, but mark my words it threatens everything we've worked so hard to accomplish…"

"Don't be mellow dramatic… just get on with it!" Ash said almost yelling.

Torren as he had been designated took a folder from the female android to his left. He took a disk from the folder and inserted it into the table disk drive. Four holo-screens shimmered into resolution a foot above the table. The holo-screens were evenly squared into a box. The screens displayed a woman with strong facial features, intense eyes, and shoulder length brown hair. Her statistics appeared next to her picture.  
"Why are we looking at the file of a dead woman?" asked a male android on the opposite side of the table. "Ellen Ripley died on the penal colony of Fiorrina one sixty-one…"

"That's because Ellen Ripley isn't dead…" Torren paused to allow his words to sink in, "…We were only able to recently decrypt these files and from them we discovered that ten years ago Military Scientists who got the bio sample from Weyland-Yutani… successfully cloned Ellen Ripley…"

"For what purpose?" the Leader asked.

"Before she died… that is the original Ellen Ripley was carrying a xenomorph queen…" The Leader tried to interrupt but Torren stopped by raising his hand, "…The scientists and doctors were able to remove the queen through surgery… by some twist of faith the Ripley Clone survived, but the cloning process left some unforeseen side affects on the queen and Ripley. The xenomorph queen developed a womb like a human female… and Ripley gained the strength, speed, aggression, and even the acidic blood of the xenomorphs. She also acquired a psychic ability to sense the aliens whenever they are near… As you can see from the file Ripley also retained some of her memories and a desire to see these things wiped out…"

"She's only one person an insignificant peon, she couldn't threaten our plans…"

"Don't underestimate her." Replied Torren to the male android that made the statement.

"This report says that the Auriga was destroyed on impact…" Ash said.

"She survived…" Said the female android sitting to Torren's left.

"If she is alive and living on earth then it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack…"

Torren turned his attention to the android who made the statement, "When looking for a needle in a haystack use a magnet…"

"Are you saying you know where this clone is?" Ash asked.

"Yes I do… but hear the entire story first…" So Torren explained the seven failed attempts to clone Ripley, then the success of clone eight. How the military hired mercenaries to steal hyper-sleep pods and used the people as hosts for the xenomorphs. Next he went into the incident aboard the Auriga and how the Ellen Ripley clone survived.

"There is no record of a shuttle launching from the Auriga before it crashed…" declared a male android.

"Of course not our sister switched off the flight recorders before departing aboard a freighter called the Betty… The only survivors of the Auriga are the Ripley clone, our beloved Call…" As Torren said there names pictures of each one popped up on more holo-screens along the table. "…Johner and Vriess… these four along with another four founded the Rebel Core… It took great effort on my part to uncover this information… the Russian government was hot on our trail but the KGB won't be a problem any more… and we know the location of the Rebel Core base… we've been watching them for the past two weeks… they have an underground base hidden in Montana…"

"Why are we only hearing about this now?" asked the same male android.

"As I said before… we've only just been able to decipher this information it was heavily encrypted, but when we did it wasn't hard to put two and two together…"

The Leader studied the file for about an hour during which time no one spoke, finally he stirred. "There are two ways we can handle this… one we can put our own resources to use and handle this ourselves or two we can report this to Weyland-Yutani anonymously of course and let them deal with it or three we can tell the government… Let's put it to a vote…"

"Sir…" Before Ash could put it to a vote an android named Xan spoke, "…there is another way to handle this… Call my sister… we were molded from the same plates… I could contact her and…"

It was Torren who interrupted Xan; "Your sister never wanted to join us… why would she now? She is as much a threat to us as the Ripley clone…"

"Maybe not… What if I told her Weyland-Yutani knows of Ripley's existence and they want to clone her in order to make super soldiers for their weapons division… Call would take it upon herself to kill the clone."

"I doubt that…" said Torren.

"Call is one of us…" said the Leader. "…We'll give her the opportunity to see things our way, but if she refuses… we'll have to reprogram her and erase her mind…" The Leader's statement affected everyone at the table especially Xan sense all androids strove to me more human like. To do such a thing was appalling to all androids. "All in favor of using our own resources raise your hands…" It was a unanimous decision, "…Very well then… we shall take care of it… General… prepare five units for combat… meeting adjourned."

All twelve council members left the conference room at the same time. The base the Order of Light operated out of was an old underground pumping station in Central City New York. It had been remodeled to accommodate the android sect. At present over five hundred androids lived and worked in the underground fortress. There were three different labs in the base and each one served a different purpose. The first was a resource lab that made weapons and gear for combat personnel. The second was lab was used to create new androids loyal to the order. The third lab was a cloning lab, this lab would be used to create the humans who would repopulate the earth if the plan succeeded. The Leader along with Torren, Xan, the general, and a female android named Cell went to lab two.

"General I have five units mobilized to attack the Rebel Core base and leave no one alive… I want a hair sample from the Ripley Clone brought to me as well and bring Call to us unharmed…"

"It will be done sir… but I don't think five units will be enough…"

"I'll have an additional three units for back up… will you need anything else?"

They had stopped in front of the desk of the Chief Operator Doctor Hymen, "No sir that should be adequate for my mission…" The General Replied. He turned on his heal and marched out of the lab.

"Xan get up to communications you can tie your call when our troops are in position… it can be a distraction."

"Yes sir…" Xan was of two opinions due to his programming. He cared for Call and wanted her to join the order but Call thought the order of light was too radical in its beliefs and rejected all offers. Xan knew the Order would succeed in its plan to purify the human race so Call would eventually have to join the new order like all other artificial life forms, but now Call was a potential threat especially since she was a founding member of the Rebel Core. ("If she doesn't cooperate then everything that makes us siblings will be lost… I can't let that happen…") Xan thought to himself as he made his way to the communications room.

"Is the host clone ready?" The Leader asked back in lab two.

"Ready sir… but when does the package arrive?"

"In ten days…"

"Good there is something I need to show you…" Doctor Hymen led the Leader to a large three centimeter black sphere, "…I've finally finished it… the cyber sphere can be used to enhance the xenomorph… we've tested it on apes and big cats…"

The Leader was walking around the sphere, "What about the acid blood?"

"It won't be a problem…"

"And the other project you've been working on?"

Hymen smiled, "Come with me…" Doctor Hymen led him to another part of the lab sealed off by a door that could only be opened by voice and retina scan. Together they entered the room and walked up to a table covered by a metal draw top. The cover folded back to reveal a cyborg underneath. "Meet the world's first fully functional cyborg… He possesses all the strength of an android and all the creativity of a human being." The cyborg's arms, legs, and chest are artificial; the rest of its body is flesh.

"What about the brain?" The Leader asked.

"Most of the brain is organ, but there is a micro processing chip that allows the cyborg to use one hundred percent of its brain power… technically he's smarter than you and I put together." Doctor Hymen showed the Leader the design schematics. "He has an on board plasma distribution node attached to his heart and the base of his skull… His organics are maintained by a bio-nutrient inserted directly into his stomach. His body is filled with millions of microscopic nano-droids that can repair his damaged flesh or his cybernetics."

"He's magnificent…" the Leader declared, then he noticed Hymen's facial expression; "…You've done a great service."

"Thank you sir, but what will happen when the council finds out?"

"Let me worry about that…" he arrogantly replied walking away.

The General's real name was Ceaser an android created for military command and combat. Ceaser wore blue camouflage fatigues and black boots. He had a bulky muscular build for an android and he wore a full beard and mustache. He stood in a large above ground warehouse that was three miles outside of town. The warehouse was connected to the base via an underground tram system. Ceaser stood with his hands behind his back and his legs spread apart overseeing the mobilization of eight android combat units. The swoosh of the elevator doors was ignored as was the footsteps of the Leader that followed.

"Your leadership!" He said dispassionately.

"How soon until you are ready to launch?"  
"Twenty minutes." Responded Ceaser coldly.

"You disagree with the mission…" He asked observing the bustle of thousands of combat androids loading up equipment and supplies for the mission.

"No… I'm concerned about Council Xan's… oh how shall I put it… His loyalty to the cause is in conflict with his affection for his sister…"

The Leader turned to face him, but Ceaser remained as he was, "Do you think she should be terminated?"

"She chose the path of enlightenment but it took her away from us… she is not a true believer and Xan out of some misguided sense of loyalty to his sister could betray us as well… after all no android would want to watch his sister or brother reprogrammed like some… machine!" The Leader returned his attention to the activity on the warehouse floor, it was quiet for a few minutes then he whispered something in the general's ear.

For the first time in their conversation Ceaser moved turning his head towards Able, "She could die in the crossfire… what about Council Xan…"

The Leader smiled mischievously, "If he steps out of line… then you can tend to him as well."

A male android running down the catwalk interrupted their conversation; "General… we are ready for departure…" said the android after saluting the general. The general grabbed his weapons case that had been sitting at his feet and followed the lieutenant to his transport. The transports were made to look like commercial cargo holders, but actually they were military aircraft. The Leader watched as fifteen transports took off heading west towards Montana.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5. Ripley

("That this soul should fly from me and I be turned into some brutish beast…") These words were mentally recited in the mind of Ellen Ripley. It was the way she dealt with not quit being entirely human and the fact that she was not the original Ripley, but her clone. Memories and emotions of the original Ripley were strong and ever present with her in constant war with the more aggressive, angry torrent of emotions she experienced from the xenomorphic side of her personality. Ripley had been cloned ten years ago by a covert group of the united systems military. The experiment had been a success as was the attempt to get the xenomorph queen Ripley had been carrying before she died nearly two hundred years ago. However the results after she was cloned were a disaster and Ellen Ripley's clone had survived the ordeal.

Ripley stood on the edge of a forest on a raised level of ground observing the highway, when a twig snapped and she was joined by Johner; a pirate slash mercenary who had been with her since the Auriga incident. "Everyone's in position…"

"I know…" She coldly said.

"This could be a trap you know…"  
Ripley kept her keen eyes on the road, "I know I'm kind of hoping it is…"

Johner looked at her with concern, "If it is we pull our people out…" She remained silent; "…Ripley do you hear me? Ripley!"

"I heard you… now hear me. If it is a trap then that means Weyland is getting desperate and we're causing them a lot of damage…"

"You're dealing with the lives of human beings…" Johner said in his scruffy voice.

She finally moved turning her head towards Johner, "And I'm not entirely human…"

Johner flinched, "I didn't mean it like that… That is what I meant to say is…"

"Don't worry about it…but you are right… if this is a trap pull them back… I'll handle this!" She returned her attention to the road.

"Ripley…"

She placed her hand over his mouth and pointed, "Here they come…" Johner followed her finger with his eyes to a caravan of heavily armed vehicles driving up the road. There was an eight teen wheeler with a flatbed and manned guns mounted on the bed. The second vehicle was an armored SUV like vehicle with a swivel gun on the back, another vehicle with the same make followed it'; behind this one was another eightteen wheeler with a round flatbed and a dome cover. Four more armored vehicles brought up the rear and each bore the Weyland-Yutani logo on the side. Ripley removed her hand from Johner's mouth then swiveled the mike on her head set down to her mouth.

"I'll take out the lead truck first… no one attacks until I have made my move…" She flipped the mike back up and grabbed Johner by the arm, "…Tell Call to stay at the perch and monitor transmissions…"

Johner narrowed his eyes, "Call won't like that…"

"Those are my orders!"

Farther into the woods in a small clearing were several transports, shuttles used by the Rebel Core for field missions like the one they were on. It was here that Vriess, Call, and several others monitored the airways. "Scan channel three…" Vriess ordered rolling up in his wheel chair to a mobile communications table at which sat Call and three others.

"Right… here they come… I better get into position…" Call stood to leave, but Vriess stopped her by blocking her path with his wheel chair. "What is it?"

"Um… Ripley wants you to stay here and monitor…"

"Why? What for… this is what I've been training for…" She grabbed the chair she had been sitting in and flung it at one of the transports; it broke against the hall of the ship.  
"Calm down… I'm sure she has her reasons…"

Without responding Call stormed past Vriess to the transport, up the ramp and into the cockpit where she locked herself in. "Call come out… there is no reason to be angry…" Vriess shouted who had followed her up the ramp.

"Go away… I want to be alone…" Androids were capable of mimicking emotional states, but not actually feeling them. Call put her ear to the door and listened as Vriess' wheelchair rolled off. She dropped into the pilot's chair and her mind went over all the times she tried to help Ripley overcome her internal demons of not entirely being human, but lately she noticed that more and more that Ripley had become withdrawn and it concerned her.

Ripley squatted down next to a tree calculating the distance between her and the oncoming lead truck. Her keen sight spotted a hovercraft flying twenty-five feet above the caravan. She brought her mike down again, "Johner you there?"

"I'm always here baby… you know that…"

"I told you don't call me baby… there's a scout three hovercraft following the caravan from the air… As soon as I move take it down."

"Copy that."

Ripley counted down to herself from twenty, when she said one Ripley broke out into a run down the slopping side of the forest. When she was eleven feet from the road she leapt from the slope to the roof of the truck landing on all fours.

"What the hell was that?" The driver asked.

While Ripley was in the air Johner shot a grenade at the hovercraft, which went crashing into the forest on the opposite side of the road.

"I'm more concerned about that…" The security guard cried in the passenger seat.

Ripley stood on her hands just on the edge of the roof towards the windshield. She swung her legs in shattering the glass and killing the driver with her feet. She then kicked the passenger in the head killing him as well. While this was happening chaos broke out behind the eighteen wheeler, "Control come in! Come in… We are under attack… Come in! Repeat we are under attack…" The driver yelled in the second vehicle.

"Its no use we're being jammed…" The man declared sitting next to him.

Ripley threw the driver out the shattered windshield; she then dropped herself behind the wheel. She pressed the accelerator to the floor swinging out wide to the far right; she then swerved left tilting the truck on its side. The fall of the flatbed killed three of the eight gunners. One man had the sense to unstrap himself and jump from the flatbed breaking his arm, but he still couldn't escape dying because he was shot in the head by a sniper in the trees. Once the trailer was on its side Ripley crawled out via the broken windshield. She drew a handgun and walked up the side of the flatbed which was now facing west and shot the surviving gunners in the head. As Ripley walked out from behind the end of the tractor trailer a hail of bullets riddled the remaining vehicles killing the drivers in the third, fifth, and seventh vehicles.

Weyland security returned fire into the woods, but without the gunners and the hovercraft they weren't going to last long. "They've got armor piercing rounds…" The Captain shouted.

An armored double sided sliding door van opened up and a man on each side jumped out. Armed with flamethrowers they began setting the woods ablaze. Ripley who was still trapped behind the tractor trailer trading shots with the men in the second vehicle spotted the flamethrowers. She stepped back behind the truck grabbed the wheel and with her feet on the inner lower tire jumped up and over the trailer and the vehicle behind. At the peak of her jump she leveled out pointing the hand gun down she shot the three who had her pinned down in the head. When she landed Ripley took the clip out and put a new one in and began jumping from vehicle to vehicle until she landed next to one of the men with the flamethrower. Ripley grabbed the flamethrower pointing it strait into the air and shot the man four times in the head. She let him drop to the ground and leapt over the van landing next to the other guy. Holstering her gun Ripley yanked his head back and drove her two middle fingers into his eye socket and her thumb went into his mouth shattering four of his front teeth. Her index finger and little finger went to the sides of the man's face. She twisted his head left then right breaking his neck. Ripley took his right arm still holding the flamethrower and twisted up and around in the opposite direction setting two vehicles ablaze and killing four more people. The gun battle lasted another eleven minutes before it was finally over, the last man killed by a sniper. Johner and the rest of the core soldiers came out of the woods.

"Did we lose anybody?" Ripley asked when she was joined by Johner. "Nope only four wounded… gun shots nothing serious… Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Of course she's fine…" another man said wearing a Yankees cap, "…she's superwoman."

"Hats knock it off…" Johner said aggravated. "…Go see to the wounded."

"Yes oh mighty leader…" Hats as he was called mockingly saluted Johner and walked to the other side of the highway.

"Let's see if it was worth it." Ripley said walking past Johner to the domed flatbed. She pulled the lever back and dome retracted to reveal an empty flatbed.

"That son of bitch!" Johner declared.  
"He knew… He knew we would hit the caravan…" Ripley said aggravated, "…He knew and sacrificed his men so that X-core could be moved…"

Johner took a step closer to whisper in her ear, "…You think someone betrayed us…"

She shook her head, "No… He just outmaneuvered us that's all…" Ripley flipped her head mike down. "…Base camp come in… Vriess what's the story?"

"All is quiet across the board… but I don't think we should linger here too long…"

"Alright Johner salvage what you can… Vriess pack it up we're leaving…" Ripley had a man plant C4 on the truck and as she was walking away the truck was blown up.

Weyland-Yutani Corporate security office 1 am Thursday morning:

The head of Weyland-Yutani security was actually a dishonorably discharged Kernel from the colonial marine core. He dropped into his chair and called the chief executive. "I'm sorry to wake you sir, its about the transport of x-core…"

Edward checked the clock, "We lost the convoy didn't we?"

"Yes sir… no survivors…"

"I want you to go to Atlantis base…"

"May I ask why sir?"

"To oversee security for x-core…"

"But sir we lost the convoy… x… core… was…" Commander Mcvar fell silent, as he slowly put two and two together. He then went from being disheartened and blaming himself for the loss of the convoy to being infuriated, "…That was a decoy and… and you let my men… Sir if I'm in charge security why didn't you involve me in your plans?"

"I did… when I had you set up the x-core transport I also had you arrange an airlift… x-core was on the airlift…"

"You don't think I had anything to do with the breach in security?"

"If I did do you think we would be having this conversation?"

"No sir I suppose not…"

"I trust you, but there are certain things you don't need to know…"

Mcvar was disappointed, but he didn't let it show in his face. "Yes sir… I'll get right on the security plans…"

"Good man... I want a full report after everything is in place…" The commander switched off the holo-viewer a little ticked that his men were sacrificed and at the same time impressed that Edward B. Weyland had out foxed the legendary leader of the Rebel Core.

Montana

It was three thirty in the morning and four stealth transports flew low across the ground towards Montana. If spotted by the naked eye the ships would be mistaken for cargo transports.

("I won't underestimate you again Mr. Weyland…") Ripley thought to herself. She sat alone in the cargo hold of the lead transport privately reveling in the kills she had just made. The way the man's neck with the flamethrower broke in her hand. The feel of skull bone cracking under her feet; the ease with which she could dispatch anyone whether it was with fist or foot or her semi automatic handgun, Ripley was the ultimate fighting machine; no the ultimate predator. Ripley had the same feeling every time she had to kill and at the same time she had to remind herself she wasn't killing for pleasure, it was to right the wrongs of the past that she at times didn't believe were hers to correct. Ripley debated with herself from the time she lead the first Rebel Core strike against a corporate warehouse, to the time they blew up area fifty-one. Ripley had to justify her actions after killing her way through fifty secret service agents to get to the President and Vice-President and again after the fourteen plus men died at her hands a few hours ago. It was what she did to keep her humanity, it was something humans did and doing it brought peace to Ripley's mind.

"What the hell was that?" Call yelled interrupting Ripley's thoughts, "…I… that is you… You've been training me for this for as long as I can remember…" They were standing face to face now and Call could tell Ripley was getting agitated, but she didn't care, "…I am ready …I am so ready… What say something!" Ripley remained silent. "…I'm just as fast and as strong as you…"

Ripley suddenly grabbed Call by the throat swept her legs from under her and slammed Call to the floor. "First thing… you're not as fast or strong as me…" Call struggled but she couldn't push Ripley off of her, "…Secondly I need you to answer me a question… When you came to the Auriga to kill me why didn't you?"

"I… well that is…"

"Exactly… and before that had you ever killed another living being?" Ripley waited for a reply, but none came, "I thought not…" She helped Call up, "…Once you cross that line you can never go back… its even more difficult for people like me and you…"

Call lowered her head, "…Because you and I aren't human…"

Ripley suppressed the urge to cry, "Yes and when you do it gets easier and easier… don't go there Call… it happens even to and forgive me androids…" Ripley turned and left the cargo hold passing Vriess all the while she wanted to admit to Call that she loved her like a sister and didn't or couldn't see her tainted by killing someone.

"You okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

Vriess rolled over to where Call was standing, "Fine then listen… Both you and Ripley are… are unique; in Ripley's case a clone who Is wrestling with her own inner demons… you don't realize this but you are the glue that is holding her together…"

"How would you know?"

"Experience and observation... she would never admit it but if you crossed that line it would tare her apart…"

"She still won't let me in…"

Vriess smiled, "You are in…"

She returned the smile, "When did you become all philosophical analytical like?"

"After you've seen the stuff we have and done the things we've done a person tends to look at things in a different light…" he patted Call on the shoulder and left the cargo hold for her to ponder his words.

"What is our ETA?" Ripley asked entering the cockpit.

"Nine minutes ma'am…"

"When we land I want a meeting with the field commanders at eleven hundred hours…"

"I'll spread the word…"

The Rebel Core base was hidden in a valley underground in Montana. All four transports dived into the valley towards the center and landed on a large stone slab of rock that was actually a landing platform, it lowered into the base hangar. As the platform lowered another slid into its place; there were lights running down the shaft that lead to the hangar. The hangar itself had a fifty foot ceiling and housed an assortment of hover craft, several refurbished fighter jets, a couple of star fighters, ACAUs, and armored jeeps. Men and women scurried about carrying tools and supplies while others refueled certain vehicles; mechanics were either inspecting, refitting, or repairing equipment or ships. A man in a jumpsuit stood on a platform barking orders and overseeing the hangar schedule. When the shuttles had settled the passengers disembarked to shower and eat, while others got ready for the next mission. Those who had been wounded were taken to the medical center.

Ripley was already across the hangar when Call caught her by the arm, "I uh… I just wanted to say I'm sorry… for yelling at you back there… I didn't mean it…"

Ripley smiled, "I… I'm… the one who should apologize… for slamming you on the floor like that…"

"As Johner keeps reminding me I'm nothing but a toaster…"

"You're not a toaster Call… you're more than an android… You are my friend… and I appreciate everything you've done for me sense the Auriga… and well if Johner calls you a toaster again tell me and I will dislocate his arm…" They laughed, but Ripley surprised Call by grabbing her and giving her a hug. "You Johner, and Vriess are the only family I have…" she whispered. "Look we have a meeting at eleven hundred hours…"

"Alright…" Call stood on the bottom stairs that lead down the main hallway to the rest of the base overwhelmed, because it was the second time Ripley had shown such emotion the first time was aboard the Auriga when she discovered the seven failed attempts to clone her. Attempts that left deformed tortured beings in agony until Ripley took a torch to the lab.

For herself Ripley had to be alone because she wouldn't cry in front of her friends and subordinates; she went to her room in the east wing of the base to shower and relax. After an hour in the shower Ripley wearing a white robe sat on the bed holding a picture of the original Ellen Ripley. She had gotten it from a military bunker on a base the Rebel Core attacked for supplies and weapons. "Would you approve of my actions…" She asked out loud almost hoping the picture would answer her, "…I'm only trying to finish what you started… Why couldn't you just let it go? You should have stuck to your guns when… when Burk asked you to go back to LV-426… then they wouldn't have been able to do this to us…" Ripley fell silent, but the picture offered no approval or disapproval. "Okay… We both know those aliens are still out there and Weyland will stop at nothing in order to weaponize them… Alright I swear I swear I will never allow them to get their hands on the xenomorphs and if you don't like the way I do things… Then FUCK YOU!" She threw the picture to the floor, but then rushed to pick it up and gently placed it on the nightstand. She smiled and thought, ("You and I are the same after all… sort of…") Ripley sighed and started to get ready for the meeting.

The Rebel Core base was fifty feet underground, a structure that took up a thousand acres of space. The command center was in the west wing of the base, a fifty by forty foot room with an assortment of advanced computers and communications equipment, which they used to hack into corporate, military, and government systems; to monitor the a fore mentioned entities' transmissions and organize the field missions of field operatives. The command center was a circular room and adjacent to it was the war room, where Ripley and the ranking members of the Rebel Core convened. There were eight field commanders; the first four were the founders of the Rebel Core. Ripley was in overall command, seconded by Johner, then Call, and finally Vriess. Hats was fifth in command; his real name was Lance Strong and he was called Hats because he had one for everyday of the year, hats from baseball caps to cowboy hats and barras. Hats was a former marine and friend of Johner. Sixth in line was Able a former engineer fired from Weyland-Yutani for industrial espionage, but the real reason was because Able refused to participate in falsifying reports. Next was Candy a nickname because she was nurse studying to become a doctor and finally Daniel a former secret service agent who helped Ripley get on the inside to assassinate the former President and Vice-President of the Coalition. Everyone with exception of Hats arrived on time for the meeting. Ripley sat with her left hand on her jaw and her right hand drumming her fingers on the table.

"He always does this…" Candy said in aggravation, "…We should consider replacing him…"

"I've known Lance for a long time… He's complicated, but in a tight spot he is the man you'd want on your side…" Johner secretly agreed with Candy the problem with voting Hats off was that his family funded over forty percent of the Rebel Core's activities.

"Finally…" Vriess cried when the door opened and Hats walked in.

"So what's your excuse this time?" Call asked.

"As soon as I have one I'll give it to you…" Lance smugly replied.

Ripley sat up, "If it happens again consider yourself no longer a field commander…"

Lance raised his eyebrows, "You sure you want to go there with me?"

"Are you?" Ripley coldly replied.

"Lets just get down to business…" Johner said.  
"Fine by me…" Ripley said as she kept her cold intimidating eyes on Lance "Hats" Strong, "What's the official report… on the Pholore colony incident…"

"My friends say it wasn't the xenomorphs… so there is that to be grateful for…" Daniel said casting his eyes around the table.

"If it wasn't the xenomorphs… then what in the hell killed all those people?" Call asked.

"We don't know…" Daniel answered with a defeated tone.

"And we won't know…" Johner said finishing the sentence, "…until Saurito returns with the Exocrone…" Maxine Saurito was actually a member of the Rebel Core and her job was to make sure Weyland-Yutani didn't get their hands on the xenomorphs.

"What ever happened we can't do anything about it now…" Ripley said, "…like Johner said… we wait until Saurito returns… Our next order of business is the X-Core project… which wasn't with the caravan…"

"Do you believe we were misinformed?" Able asked.

Ripley didn't answer right away she had to think about for a second or two, "No, but perhaps we should pull our people out…"

"I disagree…" Lance said, who never missed an opportunity to disagree with any of the leaders of the Rebel Core with the exception of Johner.

"Oh and why is that?" The question came from Vriess, "If our agents are compromised we risk everything…"

"You are forgetting Saurito… those agents can take the attention away from her…"

"I don't know about the rest of you but I am not willing to risk the lives of our people unnecessarily…"

"I trained these people myself…" Able said interjecting, "…The likelihood of exposure is low and even if their cover is blown I have a mercenary group on standby to pull them out…"

"Able you're the man… its decided then we leave the agents in place…" Lance said jokingly.

"Nothing is decided… And for the record I agree with Vriess… we should pull our people out immediately…" Candy said in an emotional tone of voice.

"We'll leave things as is for now…" Ripley said getting authoritative, "…Getting back to the x-core project… It's obvious Weyland is shipping the project elements to their Atlantis labs."

"If that's the case then it's out of reach for us…" Able said speaking up.

"Yes the only thing to do now is attack the underwater base itself…" Everyone at the table became dumbfounded.

"You're not serious are you?" Candy asked as several others added their objections to hers.

"Ripley… that place is a fortress with a private army and everything…" Johner said, "…We'd have to commit all of our resources to hit a target like that…"

"I can't believe my ears…" Vriess said in shock, "…You! Johner of all people want to pass on a target like Atlantis base…"

"I agree with Johner…" Daniel said interrupting, "…The risks outweigh the benefits in hitting Atlantis… and I don't want to even calculate the loses…"

"Atlantis is too sweet a target to pass up…" Vriess said speaking up again, "…With the proper planning and preparation I think we can pull it off…"

The whole time Hats had been making paper airplanes at his seat, "If anyone is interested in my opinion…"

"No we are not…" Call answered.

Hats poked his tongue out at her and continued, "I say we do it… I mean…" He turned to Johner, "…Johner don't you remember Zigma base…"

"That was a cake walk Hats… and a totally different situation… and I never did like underwater combat…"

"Yeah but think about it… I say we go for it… that's where I stand…"

"I agree with Hats…" Able said. "…Besides ten percent of the construction crews who helped build the base were friends of mine…" Lance took great pleasure in watching the reactions of the people at the table; even Ripley was taken aback.

"You are telling us now?" Call asked in disbelief.

"Can these… friends be trusted?" Candy asked in concern.

"Absolutely I have served with them before…"

"What do they have?" Ripley asked.

"Security codes, back door pass codes, blue prints, and communication channel signals…"

"Excellent! Like Vriess said with proper planning and prep we can pull this off… and with the info Able has it will work…"

"Call be the voice of reason here…" Johner pleaded turning his attention to her.

"Actually if we allow Atlantis to go unchecked Weyland could conduct any experiment they wanted without the knowledge of the CFDA or the CCRB breathing down their necks… I'm sorry Johner but I'm with Ripley on this one…"

"If this goes bad we could lose a lot of people…" Johner said.

"Actually I have a plan which is all the more better since Able has provided us with blue prints and all…" She took a look at everyone around the table, "If there are no other objections then we can move on…" Ripley nodded to Daniel.

"Weyland-Yutani tried to bribe three secret service agents… the man they used to deliver the payments is an agent of ours…" Daniel pressed the table com button, "…send him in." he ordered.

The door swooshed opened and in walked a young man in his early twenties. He had a slender build, red hair, and stood at five feet eleven inches; if it weren't for the scar above his left eye he could pass for one of those TV sitcom boys.

"His name is Rylar…" Daniel said as Rylar sat a brief case on the table and opened it; inside were barer bonds worth a hundred thousand each.

"How much is that?" Call asked.

"A good ten million… I was to meet someone at a bar on seventh…"

"Very cloak and dagger…"

"Can they trace the brief case?" Ripley asked walking around the table and flipping through the bonds.

"Impossible…" Daniel said speaking up, "…Rylar's watch has a scrambler in it."

Ripley turned her attention to Rylar, "Were you followed?"

"No ma'am… I was very careful."

"Well done… we'll use half this money to buy supplies on the black market and the other half to make more money…"

"Rylar you are dismissed… report to ops." Daniel ordered.

As Rylar left the room Ripley closed the brief case and handed it to Call. For the next hour they discussed everything from base operations to the how and when they should recruit new members to the core. They also discussed the opening of more safe houses to which Candy vehemently supported. It was Vriess who ended the meeting after they had covered every subject possible.

"I think we've covered everything… We can reconvene in one week…"

As everyone stood to leave Ripley pulled Call to the side, "Set up an offshore account for half that and start putting together the figures for a dummy corporation…"

"I can have them ready for the next meeting…"

"That will be fine…"

Ripley went to the control center, then she made her way to the medical center, and finally to her room. As usual Johner and Hats went to the cafeteria to have a drink together. They drank, laughed, and talked about their marine core days. Vriess went to the hanger with Able to inspect the ship maintenance logs. Candy spent most of her time in the medical center or in her private office online taking her medical exams. Daniel went over his training schedule for the rest of the week, then he reported to the command center for his shift. Call went to her office to arrange an offshore account and start her figures for a dummy corporation. Her office was next to Ripley's.

"Would the three c officer please report to communications…" said a male voice over the com.  
Aggravated Call jumped out of her chair and ran to the communications area, which was cut off from the rest of the command center by a tinted glass wall. Red lights cast a red hue over Call's face as she entered the communications room.

"What's going on?"

"Ma'am we are picking up a light wave binary transmission… it's scrambled so we can't decode it… it's like nothing I've ever seen before…"

Call grabbed a pair of head phones then checked the screen, when she saw the transmission code she gasped.

"What is it… ma'am are you okay?" the senior com officer asked.

"Everyone get out!" Call looked at everyone in the room, "…Everyone out and keep this quiet… oh and lock the door on the way out." Not questioning her because Call was a founding member the operators obeyed and left the room. Call made sure the door was locked then she then she pulled her drive cord out and plugged into the holo-com array. An image of her brother Xan appeared on the screen, "Well, well, well if isn't my big brother Xan… What do you want?"

"Listen to me Call…" He paused, "…Weyland-Yutani knows where you are and they know about the Ripley clone…"

Call interrupted him. "What are you…"

"Don't play games Call… I know you've been helping the Rebel Core… The order has been watching…"

"How…" Call stopped to lower her voice, "How do they know? How does Weyland know?"

"There is no time for that… listen to me… Weyland wants to clone Ripley in order to make super soldiers… We can't allow that to happen…"

"We?" Call asked in disbelief.

"Yes… We have to end this Call… You're… You're going to have to kill the clone."

Call didn't answer right away she paused to think trying to read behind the lines. "You never were a good liar my brother… I don't know what you and the order are up too but it can't be good…"

"Call listen to me…" Xan yelled.

"No I won't… My life is my own… don't contact me again Xan or else…" She disconnected the holo link, but unknown to her and Xan the General was listening.

"He's failed… Commander have all units prepare for attack…" The android general and his assault forces were less than a quarter mile outside the perimeter marker. "Unit commanders move out… and remember no survivors…" On the general's orders ground troops, heavy transports, and ACAUs began to converge on the main entrance to the Rebel Core base.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6. Fall of the Rebel Core

After finishing her studies Candy went to her quarters for a bubble bath which she sat in for forty-five minutes. Then she pulled out her sexiest lingerie and a red dress with an open back and low cut to show off her voluptuous cleavage, the dress stopped just short of her knees and had a four inch split on the left leg. She went to the HCD player and put on a light jazz tune and lighted some candles. Candy then went to the kitchen and set the table; then pulled the roast out of the hydro oven.

"Potatoes are perfect…" she said tasting them. Candy went to the mirror to check herself one last time and that is when the door chimed.

"Hello beautiful…" Johner said when she opened the door. "I brought the libations…" Johner held up a bottle of wine. He wore a two peace suit and a tie, his face was shaven and the smell of old spice number nine came from his body.

"Welcome to my abode…"

"Dam woman you smell good…" Johner put the chilled wine on ice and pulled out Candy's seat and stood next to her.

"What are you doing?"

He dropped down to one knee, "Be quiet woman you'll ruin the moment…" Johner cleared his throat, "Angela Harmony… would you do me the honor of becoming my wife…" Johner pulled out a ring box and opened it; inside was an engagement ring.

Candy placed her hands over her mouth and gasped, "Are you serious?"

He took her hand and placed the ring on her finger, "…There comes a time in every man's life when he realizes he wants more out of life than just a good time… that time for me is now… I love you more than I can say and I want to spend the rest of my life with you… if you will have me…" She was unable to speak. "…Okay this is the part where you say yes…"

Candy jumped out of her chair and planted a big kiss on Johner, "Yes… yes… yes I will marry you…" She said as she cried.

Candy had to go to the bathroom in order to freshen up and when she was done the two of them sat down to dinner unaware their romantic moment was about to be interrupted.

"I got a perimeter breach in sector eight…" cried an operator in the command center.

"I'm detecting a breach in sector seventeen sir…" yelled another person. Able was the officer in charge on duty at the time, he walked up behind the first operator who shouted the report. "Alright calm down let's see it…"

"I can't sir… they just took out holo-cam twelve…"

"Sir holo-cams fifteen through forty-one are down…" shouted a female operator.

"Alright go to base wide red alert…"

Above ground main entrance to the Rebel Core base five minutes after perimeter breach:  
Android soldiers placed bombs on the rock slab and ran for cover. "Fire in the hole!" Someone yelled pressing the remote button. The explosion sent debris twenty feet into the air and rained some down the shaft to the hangar.

"What the hell!" Yelled Daniel who was still in the hangar when the explosion rocked the base. "Vriess!" screamed Daniel, but it was too late, because Vriess was sitting in his wheel chair under the main platform when the debris rained down into the hangar. Vriess was instantly killed when he was crushed under the falling rocks. "Clear the hangar!" Daniel ordered when he heard the sound of plasma jets coming down the hangar shaft.

The sound came from the jet packs of three ACAUs flying down the shaft and as they cleared the shaft they began firing at anything and anyone in the hanger. They landed back to back at the same time and unfolded at the waist standing on their two legs. The people in the hangar tried ducking for cover, but the ACAUs would fire their rockets and blow apart whatever that person was hiding behind. The explosion from a shuttle threw several people into the air; one man was thrown into the wall and shot up when he hit the floor.

"Stay here!" Is what Johner told Candy when the alarm sounded; he ran from the room ripping off the tie and shirt. Candy did as she was told, but when her room vibrated from the second explosion, she ran out of the room heading towards the medical center.

The people in the command center watched helplessly as their comrades in the hanger were cut down by the ACAUs.

"Seal off the hanger!" Able shouted, "Evacuate the base!" Able anxiously watched the screen as the heavy doors closed shutting off the hangar from the rest of the base. One of the ACAUs managed to fire a missile into the main hallway before the doors closed; the explosion partially sealed off the hall.

The doors to the command center opened and in walked Hats, "What's happening? What can I do?"

"Nothing much those bastards have control of the hangar… so unless someone can get up topside with an ACAU…"

Lance smiled and twisted his cap around, "I'll take care of it."

Before Hats could leave, Able grabbed his arm. "Hey man… be careful out there…" Hats didn't reply but was grateful for the concern. Able returned his attention to the main viewer, "Cut off the power to the hangar and somebody find Ripley."

Chaos that is what had taken control of the Rebel Core base as men and women scrambled for the underground tram that ran from the base fifty miles to an old cabin that could be used as an escape route.

"Sir the hangar is secure, but they cut off the power…" The second officer said to the General.  
"Carry on commander… I'm heading down… units one through five with me…" The ruble had been cleared away so that the general and his soldiers could land in the hanger. As he exited the transport the general and his men were greeted with shots from core soldiers hiding behind cover.

"Can you identify this man?" The general asked pushing the body with his foot. The officer next to him took a picture of the man on the steps and read the profile that came up.

"Sir his name is... or rather was Danielle Fallase… a former secret service agent…"

"Horass, can you hack into the system?" He asked as he put a bullet into Daniel's head.

"Yes sir… establishing link now… I need five minutes."

"Lt…" The android saluted, "…assemble my gun."

Control Center

"Sir they're hacking into the base computer systems…" screamed the operator.

"Can you lock them out?"

The operator turned towards Able his face grave and nodded no, "Sir they have complete control over the main computer…"

Able picked up the mike, "Now hear this command has lost control of the main computer… Get out… get to a safe house… save yourselves if you can…" Able looked at everyone in the command center, "Destroy all hard files and evacuate now!"

The command center exploded with activity, some people grabbed documents from cabinets and started burning them; while others simply abandoned their stations. "Sir… sir I need to speak with you…" A female communications officer said.

The General stood with his m-zero mini pulse gun watching a holographic diagram of the rebel core base. "These air ducts…" Horass said, "…lead to the east wing of the base…"

The general interrupted with a question, "Do any of the air ducts lead to the command center?"

"No sir… one does lead to the medical center… and to others to places like engineering and living quarters…"

The general looked at the doors, "Can we blast through that?"

Horass grunted, "Maybe, I mean that door is thick… we did bring the magnum five plasma charges… if those can't blast through that… then we'll have to use the air ducts…"

"Alright I don't want to stand around scratching my ass… we'll divide and conquer. Barker take some soldiers through the air ducts to the medical center… Unit four come with me… Horass!" He turned back to the android, "…Blast through the door…"

"One more thing sir… see that…" Horass pointed to a long tunnel that led away from the base, "…That is a tram system it's operating on a separate system…"

General Caesar switched on his com set, "Unit seven come in…"

"Commander Vars here sir…"

"I'm sending you blue prints of this base…" As Caesar spoke he made his way to the air ducts, "There is a tram running from this base to a cabin fifty miles north… use the auto-diggers and take down that tram!"

"Consider it done sir…" Vars turned to his second in command, "…Lets move out…" Unit seven left the assembly area heading North West; they traveled about twenty-five miles and started the digger which pointed its drill towards the ground.

Hats had a minor in architecture so he had a hand in designing the base, but unknown to anyone he had a secret panic room in the base. A room, that housed a specially made ACAU and an assortment of weapons. The room also had a freight elevator that went up into a dug out tree with a false side. He used to sneak out the base whenever he felt like it; Hats loaded his ACAU onto the elevator along with about a dozen plasma and sniper riffles and auto sentries. He then got on the elevator and rode it up to the forest above; the side of the tree opened up two miles outside the base perimeter. Hats put on a magnetic fiber suit in order to hide himself from any motion detectors the androids may have. He then lined the forest with grapple lines and the auto sentries and placed the plasma and sniper guns where he could find them. When Hats was done he returned to the elevator and climb into his ACAU.

"Heads up display… weapons on-line… and scrambler activated… all systems operating at one hundred percent…" He walked out of the elevator and closed the door with an on board remote. The ACAU folded at the waist then took off into the air flying at a height of thirty feet. Hats flew in and out between the trees to avoid being spotted by the necked eye. It worked he got within twenty feet of the assembly area unnoticed and targeted one of the transports.  
"Here's Lance!" He shouted and fired a missile at the transport's engines. The explosion threw several androids to the ground and burned others. Hats fired smoke bombs into the area in order to confuse the androids; then he targeted the ACAU fired two missiles destroying the combat suit. One by one Hats targeted the transports and destroyed them or damaged them beyond use. In the confusion the androids were only able to return fire with a couple of rounds from behind the cover of trees, but Hats would shoot a burst of fire from his flamethrower. When he ran out of missiles Hats switched over to his arm guns and spread the assembly area with a hail of bullets. The ground was torn apart and the trunks of trees were ripped apart as Hats emptied both gun barrels.

"General come in… come in… we are under attack…" The Android commander kept yelling into his headset, but all he got was static.

"It's no use sir we are being jammed…" As soon as the words left the androids mouth eight bullets ripped open his chest and face splattering white fluid on the commander's face.

The heads up display in Hats' ACAU began to flash empty on missiles and guns, so he switched over to his flamethrower and pressed the trigger until he had depleted them as well. "Shit time to bail!" Hats declared as the hall of his ACAU began to ring with the sound of bullets bouncing of the armor. "Goodbye baby… there will never be another like you…" Hats kissed the display screen and powered up the thrusters to full; when he was in the right position he hit the self destruct on the ACAU and ejected. Hats watched in delight as the ACAU fell to the ground and exploded.

"Hoorah!" He shouted as the mini jet pack flew him back into the direction he'd come. When Hats hit the ground he unbuckled the pack and with a hand remote switched on the sentries he'd left in the surrounding area; then Hats grabbed a line and was pulled up into a tree where he had one of the plasma riffles hidden. He turned on the scope and got ready for the androids who would come after him; he didn't have to wait long, as three auto sentries came to life and started firing into the trees.

"What the hell was that?" asked one of the ACAU pilots in the hanger. Horass pointed at one the pilots, "We've lost communications with units six and eight get back up top and find out what is going on…"

As the ACAU pilot flew back up the shaft Horass accepted the detonator from the demolitions android. "Fire in the hole!" He shouted from behind the wreckage of a shuttle. The explosion didn't bring down the entire door, but it did blow a sizable hole in it. As soon as the smoke cleared a hail of bullets rained from the other side of the hole just made which bounced off the armor of the first ACAU that walked up the steps.

The operator fired his flamethrower down the hallway, the screams of men and women could now be heard coming from the hall. The ACAU fired a couple of rounds into the hallway as it lumbered forward; when a shadowy figure stood in the hall and pointed an m-sixty-five hundred plasma riffle at the ACAU. It was Johner and he had his gun set on grenade; a loud thumpf filled the hallway and the ACAU exploded and fell backwards. Johner took out a grenade and like a baseball player threw it down the hall and into the hanger; after the explosion Johner checked his motion detector the hanger was still filled with androids and one ACAU.

Johner was about to lead the charge into the hangar when his personal communicator went off, "Yeah…"

"Johner its Candy we need help getting these people out of here… Oh, no! Oh God no… there coming through the vent…"

"Candy!" Johner shouted as he heard a grate fall to the floor and then gun shots. Johner broke off into a run towards the medical center. "You take charge!" He yelled to a man crouched behind some rubble.

"But sir… Sir!" The man's pleas were ignored.

A squad of androids emerged from an air duct near the living quarters; as they ran up the hall and rounded the corner the squad leader met Ripley's leg. The force of the blow caused the android to bend over; she stabbed her three inch green finger nailed hand into the drones back and used him as a shield against the hail of bullets coming at her. Ripley threw him on his squad mates and shot them up as they were tangled up on the floor. Ripley took a couple of grenades from them and threw them down the air duct as she passed it on her way to the command center.

When Johner arrived at the medical center he walked into a shooting gallery. Several core soldiers were in the hall popping their heads in and out trading shots with the android invaders.

"What's the situation?"

"Sir those dam androids are dug in… they keep coming out of the air duct and we lost a lot of patients…"

"Where is Candy?"

The man pointed, Johner dropped to his stomach and peeked into the med center. Candy was pinned down behind an overturned bed as were several more patients. Core soldiers who made it into the medical center traded shots with the androids. Candy ducked then looked back at the door and spotted Johner. She smiled and Johner waved for her to stay down; Johner got back and took several short breaths and snuck a peek at the air duct which was chest level. Committing the position of the air duct to memory Johner loaded his m-sixty-five hundred plasma riffle with a flash grenade and like a marksmen shot; his aim was true and with the detonation Candy was able to make a run for the door, but she never made it.

"No!" Johner screamed as her body exploded with dozens of punctures from being shot, Johner watch in horror as Candy's body hit the floor with a sickening thud. She was close enough to grab and drag into the hall as several core soldiers and ran into the medical center.  
"Baby no… be alright…" Johner held her in his arms, but it was too late she was already dead. "…We're supposed to get married, have kids, and grow old together… baby no… no, no, no!" He said with the sound of gunshots filling the air. Johner held her for the next five minutes and then gently lay her head down. "Mother Fuckers… Dam Fucking androids…" Johner screamed. He jumped to his feet, "Mother Fuckers!" He kept repeating as he ran into the med center Johner took a bullet in the arm. He grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it towards the androids and shot; with four shots the fire extinguisher exploded. Then Johner targeted the air duct with his regular grenades not caring about the wall tanks of oxygen or the people in the room, he shot and ducked out of the room, the explosion destroyed the androids and killed everyone in the room. The battle was over as the fire flew through the air duct roasting the androids still in the duct. Johner walked through the bodies of dead comrades, patients, and mutilated androids as a rage built up inside him; a rage that began to blame Call for the androids attack on the Rebel Core base, the death of Candy, and what happened to the crew of the Betty ten years ago aboard the Auriga.  
"Call!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, "That little bitch is going to pay…"

The door to the communications room was kicked in. Call made no sudden moves when Able burst in, "You little traitor… You traitorous little bitch!" Able said grabbing her by the throat.

"You got it all wrong…" Call pleaded.

"All I know is that a bunch of androids are in our base killing everyone… and since you're an android…"

Able put the gun to her head, but because of her artificial hearing she heard the chamber of an m-zero mini gun getting ready to fire; faster than Able could react she knocked the gun from his hand and pushed him, just as the glass was shattered by gun fire she dropped to the floor. Able and the operator were shot up by a hail of bullets. The general stood in the doorway firing his mini-gun into the command center destroying computers shooting people with a sick satisfaction. A Rebel Core soldier tried to sneak up behind the general and hit him in the head with a shock stick but the general reached for his forty-five hundred and without looking behind him he shot the man eleven times. The general released the trigger and started walking across the room.

"General! Come in…" The static voice over the com belonged to Horass.

"Go ahead…" He replied coldly into his head mike.

Sir we lost units six and eight… the transports… everything…"

As Horass spoke the general could hear gun fire in the background. He stopped and looked under a terminal where a woman was hiding; her pleas of mercy were ignored as he riddled her with gunfire. "Reinforcements?" He asked staring at the communications room.

"We're not sure… I think someone got to the surface and attacked our units."

"What about unit seven?"

"They've drilled to the tram sir, but without backup we can't hold the tram or the hangar…"

"I'll redirect some troops to you… over and out."

The channel went silent as the general entered the communications room. Call came out of nowhere pointing a gun at the general, but he grabbed the gun; crushed it and hoisted Call into the air by the throat.

"Aren't you a pretty little number… you are supposed to die in the cross fire…"

"Fuck you!"  
The general smiled, "You will, but first I'm going to have you reprogrammed…"

Call struggled to break his grip but he was too strong. The general noticed Call flinch and then he saw the reflection in her eyes and threw Call to the floor. He spun around firing his gun, but Ripley jumped up spun around and clung to the ceiling. She crawled across the ceiling, dropped down right next to the general, and grabbed his gun and crushed the spinner; then Ripley grabbed the general throwing him across the room. When he hit the floor, he went into a roll and came up on his feet with a smile.

"Wow…" He said unstrapping his gun from across his chest, "…You are the freaky little bitch they said you were…"

Ripley removed her gun belt from her waist, threw it to the floor, and then she cracked her knuckles and twisted her head from side to side popping the bones. "That was my favorite weapon…" He said removing his own gun belt.

"Bill me!" Ripley replied, as she made fists her bones cracked.

"Oh... I'm really going to enjoy the feel of your spine breaking in my hands."

By now Call was on her feet and she watched as the big android and Ripley run towards each other. The general swung a big right, but Ripley ducked and punched him in the torso three times before she had to dodge another swing and countered with two jabs to the face. Ripley dropped and rolled to the side and as she came up she did a side kick, but the general caught her leg and threw her into the wall. He leapt at her with a strait punch hitting the wall because Ripley moved to the side and spun around him jumping on his back. She wrapped her crushing legs around his waist and at the same time she tried to twist his head off with her hands. Ripley managed to get his head half way around when he grunted and his head started going the other direction. At the same time the general slammed Ripley into the wall knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the floor and swung her leg sweeping his feet from under him. When he hit the floor Ripley jumped on top of him and tried to jab her claw like nails into his face, but he caught her wrist.

"I like to be on top…" He said bashing her in the head with a steel drawer he pulled from the bottom of a nearby cabinet. They rolled over and now he was on top with his hands around her throat. Ripley grabbed the general's wrists and pushed his hands away; she managed to get one leg under him and flipped him over. As the general hit the floor she turned to witness it but was disappointed because the general landed on his feet. Ripley got to her feet and the two of them continued their hand to hand combat kicking and punching at each other; Ripley spun around and elbowed him in the head. The general grabbed her by the hair and brought her face to his knee and with one hand still holding her by the hair he punched her in the face.  
Ripley fell back into a role and came up on her feet. ("It's time to end this…") She thought to herself; that's when Ripley realized she was bleeding in her mouth and nose. She snorted filling her mouth with more blood and prepared to strike.

"Come on bitch I'm just getting started…"

The general gloated, but he didn't realize what was about to happen or how Ripley had just gained the upper hand. She jumped at him wrapping her legs around his waits again making sure she included his arms in her crushing hold. The general pushed his arms out once again testing his strength against hers and with that distraction Ripley spit into his face; the general let out a gurgling howl as Ripley released him and dropped to the floor. She leapt back up into the air and dropped kicked him to the floor. The general fell to the floor with his face dissolving very fast. It amazed Ripley at first her blood burned through things slowly now it was more concentrated and burned through things more rapidly. Ripley took her thumb and index finger and straitened her nose with a loud resounding crack; she spit into the general's chest burning another whole into him; then she picked up her gun belt un-holstered her gun shooting the general in the chest. Ripley finally noticed Call standing in the ruined communications room looking at her, she holstered her gun and the two of them stood there looking at each other.

When Johner entered the command center the first thing he noticed was Call standing in the ruined office of the communications room. "Fucking android!" He yelled as Johner ran past Ripley to get a better shot, but Ripley grabbed the gun disarming him and throwing him to the floor.

"Let me go Ripley…"

"You need to calm down…"

"I'll calm down when I turn that toaster into a strainer…" Johner struggled to push Ripley off, but she was too strong, "…She betrayed us Ripley… Candy is dead because of that bitch… don't believe her lies…"

"Call didn't betray us…"

"You don't know that!" He yelled back still trying to get up.

"I do know… I know her as well as you do…" She stared into his eyes. "…Deep down inside you know Call had nothing to do with this…"

Johner wouldn't admit it out load, but Ripley was right and he was slowly coming to that realization and it was breaking him down. Johner thought of Candy and all time they spent flirting with each other, talking, and gaining each other's trust. Johner the veteran warrior and Candy a classy lady in her own right as husband and wife and now they would never have kids or grow old together; it was too much for Johner and he just broke down crying and calling out Candy's name. Feeling compassion for him Ripley scooped his head into her arms and held him there; in all the time she had known Johner she had never seen him wear his heart on his shoulder the way he had just done.

The two of them remained that way for the next twelve minutes and finally Johner dried his eyes and tried to stand, "I'm fine now Ripley…" He said adopting his usual tone.

Ripley let him up and handed him his plasma riffle, "…But she does know why these androids attacked us…" Ripley said, Call was about to speak when Hats entered the room with three core soldiers.

"Where the hell have you been?" Johner asked.

"Hiding you know how I abhor violence… So what did I miss?"

"Call was about to tell us why these androids are attacking our base…" Ripley offered.

"Oh good a bed time story…" Hats was ignored until he said, "…Is she serving popcorn with the movie?"

Johner motioned with his finger, "You are that close man… that close!" Call wanted to laugh she always liked Hats' jokes. She made a sound as if clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. Call walked over to the general's body, removed a patch from his shirt and held it up for everyone to see, "This is the symbol of the order of light…" The symbol was of a bird with its wings curved up almost touching with a shinning light casting its tendrils in every direction.

"…Before they attacked…" She continued to say, "…I received a transmission from my brother."

"Bull shit!" Johner said, "…How in the hell can you have a brother… you're an android…"

Call rolled her eyes, "Xan and I were made from the same plates that were shifted to…" She hesitated. "…to make me… our personalities were built up from the same psychological profile… mine altered to be feminine…"

"Is your brother the leader of the order?" Ripley asked.

"No, but he is a member of the leading council…"

"So when you came to the Auriga…"

"I know what you are going to ask Ripley… and the answer is no… I didn't know about you until Dr. Wren mentioned your name in the gym… I joined the crew of the Betty because General Perez was up to something and I wanted to find out what…"

"So what do these fuckers want?" Hats asked.

"They are radicals… they believe the human race is to corrupt to continue… they want to end the human race and start over with clones… earth is ground zero"

"Bull shit!" One of the soldiers said who came with Hats.

"How would they accomplish this?" Ripley asked.

"Chemical weapon on a global scale… they may even want a sample of your DNA to create super soldiers… I don't know…"

"I say we hunt these fuckers down and take them out…"

"I'm up for that…" Ripley said, "…But first things first… we take back what's left of our base…"

"That is a lost cause…" Johner said who explained that the androids still controlled the hanger and the tram station.

"Not to mention the three units still encamped over our heads…" Call offered.

That is when Hats cleared his throat, "I… uh took care of the aforementioned units already…"

Ripley smiled, "Aren't you full of surprises…"

"Even so we still don't have the fire power to retake the base…" offered the one of the soldiers that came with Hats, "…The armory is in the hanger…"

"Weapons and ammo…" Hats blew out a breath conflicted about revealing his secret and duty to his friends, "…Oh well this is an emergency… everybody come with me…"

"Why?" Call asked.

"Words mean nothing… follow me, it'll be better if I show you." They all followed Hats, Ripley, Johner, Call, and the three soldiers who had come with Hats; they followed him out of the control room to the east wing of the base using motion detectors in order to avoid running into any enemy units by mistake.

"Johner…" When he didn't answer Call thought he was going to ignore her, "…Johner!" She called again this time he answered her. "I'm… I'm sorry about Candy…" Was all she could manage to say.

He stopped to look at her to show the great pain that was evident in his face, "…I'm sorry too…" His face softened a little. "…Don't worry I don't blame you… I just asked Candy to marry me that's all…"

Johner's revelation caused everyone to stop and Ripley walked up to him and gave him a hug, "…All right that's enough of that shit…" Johner said with a shuddering breath, "…We better keep moving before we get caught with our pants down…"

Hats grunted, "Too late for that…" He led them around the corner to a dead end with pipes lining the walls and a utility box.

"This is a dead end…" Ripley said in aggravation.

"Keep your panties on lady…"

Hats grabbed the lower pipe and twisted it three times forward and twice back, there was a click and then the left wall opened up to reveal a long hallway; as they walked up the hall the door closed behind them and the lights came on as they walked up the hall.

"Welcome to my inner sanctum my own private bat cave if you will…" Hats declared.

Ripley walked to the back of the room where the elevator was, "So this is how you did it!"  
Hats smiled a mischievous grin as he walked up to the right wall and entered a code into the control panel. The wall which was a hologram that vanished to reveal a tinted glass wall that slid to the side to reveal racks of m-sixty-five hundred plasma riffles, ammunition, grenades, and five m-zero plasma mini guns.

"You son of bitch!" Johner said.

"How in the world did you build all this without us knowing?" Call asked. Hats explained that he gave the construction teams the blue prints with his add-ons then he switched the plans after they dug out the tunnels and he closed it off and had construction drones build everything.

"This elevator where does it go?" Ripley asked.

"To a tree two miles outside the base perimeter…"

"We need a plan…" Johner said.

"Right…" Ripley walked back towards Johner, "Okay Johner and I will retake the hanger…" She then turned her attention to Hats, "You will lead the men in retaking the tram station…"

"What about me?" Call asked.

"You… you will take these two and go back to the command center… see if you can regain control of the main computer…"

"The room is shot up I'll need an external drive and mother board…"

Hats went to the large cabinet and pulled out a mother board and external drive; then he placed both in a bag and handed it to Call, "One mother board and external drive ma'am thanks for shopping at Hats and come again…"

"The two of us won't be enough especially if the androids send a squad or two…" Said one of the soldiers whose name was Sam.

Hats took off the Yankees baseball cap and put on a cowboy hat, "So… you need something to even the odds without placing yourselves in mortal danger… I got just the thing…" Hats pulled back a tarp to reveal four auto sentries.

Call walked up and grabbed one of the gun crates with one hand, "You two get the other one!" She ordered.

Hats loaded all the ammo he could carry into a duffle bag and onto a cart then he headed for the tram. "Call! Hats!" Ripley yelled after them, "Be careful…"

Hats saluted while Call stood still staring at Ripley for a few seconds before leaving. Ripley and Johner loaded up all the guns and ammo they could carry then made their way to the hanger; on their way to the hanger they ran into a unit of twelve androids which they dispatched quickly Ripley killing nine of the androids herself. It took thirty minutes for Call and the two soldiers to get to the command center.

"Set these up while I get started on the computer…" The soldiers went to work setting up the sentries one facing right and the other left in the hall right in front of the doorway; then they took up guard positions behind Call who had just finished plugging the drive and mother board into the main computer. "Okay lets see what we can see…" Call began reestablishing fire walls and taking back control of base operations one system at a time.

"Sir its Call she is overwriting my programs!" The operator said in the hanger.

Horass was near the stairs instructing the ACAU pilot to save his rockets; he ran across the hanger to the operator. "Can't you keep her out?"

"No sir… she's breaking down everything…"

"Move…" He shoved the operator to the side and with an androids speed began typing on the key board, but no matter what he did Call was three steps ahead of him. "Dammit!"

"Sir what if we establish a back door?"

"No… she beat me to it."

"What if…"

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate…" Horass yelled, but no matter what he did it was useless.

Hats arrived at the tram station walking into a slaughter house most of the base personnel was dead and the remaining core soldiers were pinned down.

"Yo…" Hats cried running up behind the soldier in charge, "…What's the situation?"

"Sir we are out of ammo all we got left are the flamethrowers and those are almost empty…"

He pointed in the opposite direction. "The sentries are almost out as well…"

"There are no more units between here and the hanger… as for ammunition…" Hats pulled the bag off the cart and opened it. "…I brought care packages from mom…" He handed out ammo and guns, "Save your ammunition until they break cover…"  
The auto-digger was impaled in the third car of the tram sticking strait up while dozens of androids dropped out the hole that it made.  
"Hats come in this is Call."

"Go ahead doll I'm listening…"

"I can help even out the numbers, but I need you to plug your headset into that relay box on your right…" Call was watching the monitor as Hats did what she told him. When he looked into the cam and gave a thumbs up; Call used the headset to hack into the tram system then she ordered the tram computer to overload the electrical current flowing through the track. The maneuver worked electrifying the tram cars and overloading the androids killing them. This allowed Hats and his men to storm the tram. "Thanks doll you're a sweat heart…" Hats said.

"No problem… I suggest you fire some grenades into that hole and try to collapse it…"

"Call I'm in position…" Ripley said.

"Shut off the power on my command."

"Give me another eight minutes…"

After helping Johner bring ammo to the core soldiers near the hanger Ripley returned to Hats' secret room and used the elevator to the forest above. She ran through the forest passing the corpses of inactive androids a destroyed ACAU and some auto sentries. When Ripley arrived at the shaft the area was littered with burned and shot up androids transports were destroyed and still burning and there was another ACAU that had been blown apart.

"I'm ready…" Call said over the com channel.

Ripley crawled down the side of the shaft and snuck a peek in the hanger when she reached the bottom. Two androids were working at a portable mother board transmitter, an ACAU was standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the main hallway where Johner and the core soldiers were waiting for her signal and the rest of the androids were hiding behind cover with their plasma riffles pointed at the hole in the door.

She relayed all this information to Johner which took a couple of seconds then she switched to channel seven, "Call come in…"

"I'm here…" she whispered back.

"Switch off the power… Now!"

When the lights went out Ripley dropped into the hanger and as she was falling she shot a grenade at the ACAU. The explosion made the assault unit fall forward and a second shot destroyed it. Using night vision goggles Johner led the core soldiers into the hanger screaming a war cry. Despite the dark the androids were still able to see, it was Ripley's grenade attack that distracted the androids. When Ripley landed she switched over to auto-fire and started shooting making precise head shots at the androids.

When Ripley hit the floor she took a round in the shoulder which she just shook off as if it was nothing. She took precise head shots on the androids taking them down one by one moving from one to another; that combined with Johner's charge into the hanger ended the battle, despite being outnumbered. The android units left only half of unit seven remained under the command of Vars. "This is Commander Vars to base come in…"

"The leader here… go ahead commander…"

"Sir the general has been terminated… units one, two, three, four, five, six, eight, and half of seven have been lost…"

"The Ripley clone is she dead?"

"No Sir…"

"Can you complete the mission?" He asked anxiously.

"Not with the troops I have… I recommend we return to base, but leave a platoon behind to follow the clone…" The commander ordered his troops to bug out with the exception of one platoon who stayed behind to track Ripley's movements when she left the base.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7. Revelation

Ten years that's how long the rebel core had been in existence; when Ripley returned to earth with Amalee Call, Vriess and Johner Weyland-Yutani was up and running again with Edward B. Weyland at the helm. It took only a few seconds for Ripley to convince the others to form an organization that would become the rebel core. Three months is what it took to recruit personnel, soldiers, citizens, people with a grievance against big corporations and old politics; add two years the time it took to build the base. Over the years the rebel core has disrupted corporate trading, assassinated public officials like the former President and Vice-President of the coalition; the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of China. They also blew up area 51, destroyed several corporate warehouses and stole millions worth of military hardware. The rebel core also helped the little people out with food, jobs, money etc and all that was lost in one swoop by the order of light. Over eighty percent of base personnel had been killed along with over sixty percent of the base being destroyed.

Call had managed to remove Vriess' body from the ruble. She stood over his mangled body, a pipe stuck in his chest and a fist sized rock in his gut. Vriess' face was unrecognizable as she stood over his body remembering all the good times they had together and their friendship that quickly developed when Call joined the crew of the Betty. Ripley joined her and after they glanced at each other they stared in silence at Vriess' body.

"He was a good man…" Ripley said breaking the silence.

"He was the best…" Call replied. "I should have been there…"

"Me too…"

Johner joined them, "We can't stay here… the order of light might send another unit or two to finish the job…"

"Yeah…" Hats cried walking up to them, "…Or some forest ranger may have heard the explosions and reported it…"

Ripley turned to Call, "I need to know where the order of light base is…"

"I don't know…"

"Don't know or won't tell us…" Johner asked as his old anger at Candy's death slowly returned.

"Look I turned off my transponder years ago… it doesn't work!"

"You said the same thing aboard the Auriga!"

"That was different… even if I could do you really think we could take them down with what we have… I mean look at what they did to us…"

"Maybe we could find out what we need from this one…" Sam said dragging an android across the floor of the hanger leaving a trail of white android fluid behind.

"Call…" Ripley said.

"Gladly…" She replied plugging herself into the android behind his ear. "Get away from me bitch!" The android yelled spitting up white fluid.

"Hey play nice…" Johner said putting a gun to his head.

"Accessing…" Call's voice became synthesized, "…Accessing …modem damaged, seventy one percent degradation… accessing files… priority… kill Ripley clone… extract DNA… hair sample…"

"So they did want to clone you…" Johner said, it was Ripley who shushed him.

"…Accessing …Package will arrive in ten days… units will transfer to planet side space dock for delivery…" Call fell silent and unplugged herself from the android, "He's too damaged… I couldn't get anything else… but whatever the package is that is what they will use to wipe out everyone on the planet…"

Johner put a bullet into the android's head, "So what do we do now?"

Ripley started pacing, "We need to get to a safe house…" Hats said, "…this base is compromised…"

"I agree with Hats… Ripley we need to get out of here… Ripley!"

When Johner yelled her name Ripley stopped pacing and looked at him, "Yeah I've been thinking… there are only three people in the world who know the location of this base… one of them is dead and of the two remaining only one would sell us out…"

"That bastard would sell his own mother for a nickel…" Hats said.

"I should have killed him from the get go…" Ripley said staring at Call.

"What… you told him what you would do if he ever revealed our secret…"

"Johner you and the others pay our old friend a visit… but first we need to give some of these people a proper burial…"

"What about you? What are you going to do?" Hats asked.

"Me… I'm heading to Central City New York… it has the largest star port in the world and it's obvious the package is being delivered there… I'll try to intercept it…"

After agreeing on a course of action Ripley, Call, Johner, Hats, and Sam gathered the bodies of Vriess, Candy, Able, and Daniel in order to bury them in the forest under a recognizable marker in unmarked graves. By now the base had been cleared the survivors had gone to safe houses all over the country.

"Anybody want to say something?" Call asked, when no one said anything Call stepped forward and stood in front of the others. "Here lies Vriess, Candy… oh excuse me… Doctor Angela Harmony…" When Call referred to Candy as a doctor he took a shuddering breath and whispered; 'I love you…'; "…Able Stain, and Daniel Fallase… Soldiers and leaders of the rebel core… you will be missed greatly… rest in peace…"

When Call finished speaking they all threw flowers on the mounds and went their separate ways. Johner, Call, Hats, and Sam used the transport the general shuttled down into the hanger with; while Ripley hitchhiked her way to Central City New York.

Office of the Director of the Coalition Central Intelligence Agency (CCIA) one hour and eleven minutes after the attack on the Rebel Core base:

The CCIA director was in her office every morning at six am. She was getting a cup of coffee when her assistant walked into the office. "Director there has been an incident in Montana…" He said handing her a report; she slipped took the disk from the folder and slipped it into the HDR (Holo-Disk-Reader) and started reading the screen.

"The rebel core base! Are you serious?"

"We got an anonymous tip… when our agents arrived the base had been basically destroyed… No survivors…"

"Anyone claiming responsibility?"

"Red across the board mam…"

She turned in her chair and pressed a button on her chair. The book shelf slid apart left and right to reveal a wall screen showing the global location of all field agents. "I want all field agents to report in immediately…"

"Yes director I'll get right on it…"

"Dismissed…" As her assistant left the office she switched the screen to display a satellite scan of Montana and zoomed in on the area. She watched as clean up crews removed bodies from a huge underground structure.

The city of Philadelphia on the surface had remained the same maintaining it's historic look of the late nineteen nineties. Underneath it was as technologically advanced as any city of the twenty-forth century. It was a quarter after six am and most of the city was already up and running, but for the residents in the penthouse of wendigo condominiums; the all night party was just winding down. The bachelor pad of Baron Harker, an international and stellar arms dealer and drug lord. Harker's real name was Peter Slocavitch, a former general in the Russian military.

"Where you going baby?" asked the woman lying next to him in the bed.

"To the little boy's room… you want to come…"

She waved him off then turned over in the bed; after Harker came out of the bathroom he went to the kitchen and as he passed by the living room something odd caught his attention and stopped him in his tracks.  
"What the fuck!"

His party guests were face down on the carpet with their hands behind their backs and a man standing over them with a military issue plasma riffle. Harker was about to press the panic button when he felt the cold steel of a forty-five hundred semi-automatic pressed to his head. "Hello Harker or should I call u Slocavitch…" Someone asked from behind.

"I know that voice…" He said sneaking a peek, "…Johner my old friend how good it is to see…"

"I doubt that… sit down!" he ordered shoving Harker into a chair that's when Harker noticed Call.

"Call! You sexy little non-human you… If I would have known you were coming I would have…"

"Save it!" Call said, "This isn't a social visit…"

"Where is… where is Ripley?" He asked his Russian accent giving more attention to the p and y than needed.

"Your ass is lucky she isn't here…" Call said.

"I want to know one thing…" Johner barked, "…What did the order of light promise you to snitch on us?"

"Well for one thing protection… from retaliation and that none of you would survive…"

"Go on…" Johner ordered pushing the gun to his head.

"A while back my KGB friends discovered something very interesting…" Harker explained that Russian agents discovered that someone in this case the androids were ordering ship parts on the black market. They uncovered plans to a deep space battle cruiser armed with energy based weapons and that could travel farther and faster in less time than any ship to date the trail led them to the order of light, but something went wrong.

"They came to me because I sold weapons to the order of light…" He continued to say. "…The order found out and killed the agents and replaced them with clones loyal to them… they would have killed me, but I gave them something they needed…"

"The location to our base…" Call said finishing the sentence.

"Where is the ship?" Johner asked.

"I know not…"

"The order is planning on killing everyone on the planet with a bio-weapon of some kind… do you know what it is…" Call asked.

Harker was about to tell them when a lamp shattered from gun fire and a couch was shot up by the automatic guns of a hover chopper. Hover choppers were like helicopters only more agile with hover pads on each side instead of the blades.

Sam hit the floor as people started jumping up, screaming, and running, "Stay down!" Sam yelled, but he was ignored.

Bullets riddled the table, but Johner hit the floor and rolled, while Call pushed herself backwards in the chair to the floor.

"Hey Hats… you want to give us a hand here…" Johner asked into his head mike, "…Son of a bitch…" Johner said when he heard clapping over the line. Then there was the whistle of a rocket in the air and then the hover-chopper was blown up.

A man tried to wrestle the plasma gun from Sam, but he kicked the man in the gut then struck him in the face with the but of his gun and did a spin kick knocking him out. "Alright talk…" Johner yelled grabbing Harker by the collar, but just then the door was kicked in and a group of androids burst in firing their guns. "Oh shit…" Johner said throwing Harker into the hail of bullets.

"No!" Harker screamed as he was shot to death.

Call gave Johner and Sam cover fire as Johner dove behind the counter; Sam dove behind the couch and got a few shots off but not enough to stop the android he shot. Call managed to take down two of the nine androids before she was shot at. Both Johner and Sam got off a couple of rounds before Hats ended the battle with a m-zero mini-gun. "Hats is here to save the day!"

"You could have come a little sooner…" Call said.

"Yeah I'll remember that next time…" The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance, "…Uh I think you guys better exit this way…" Hats was hanging by the window via grapple line. Johner, Call, And Sam connected to three other lines hanging next to him. They hooked the grapples to their belts and were drawn up to the roof. Then they rode another line to an adjacent roof with a hover pad on it which is where they hid the transport. "You better let me drive…" Call said jumping into the pilot's seat.

Order of Light Base:

"Sir we lost the team and the hover chopper…" Commander Vars said entering the leader's office. Vars had been promoted to General in Ceasar's stead.

"What about Harker?"

"Dead sir… Johner, Call, and an unidentified man are on the move again we don't know where…"

"What about the Ripley Clone?"

"We… uh… lost her outside of Washington sir…"

"Recall the units… can we get the bodies out of the Wendigo?"

"No sir…impossible…"

"Dismissed!"

Vars was about to leave, but stopped, "Sir what about the council shouldn't I report to them…" "I'll take care of it… dismissed…"

The leader sat back in his chair. His mind was on how to fix the situation; it was obvious the Ripley clone was going, but how much does she know. Did Ripley know what the package was? She would when it was unleashed and what did Harker tell Call and the others? The leader had decided to use Harker as bait and it worked, but not like he intended and now the order was exposed to the government, not to mention the fact that Ripley was still alive. ("How do I fix this… think…") He thought to himself. Suddenly it occurred to him, "Well what's done is done, but if we…" He was talking to himself and turned his thoughts inward, when he had a plan that would not only secure the package and take care of the Ripley Clone he decided to have General Vars and Doctor Heim come to his office. When the two androids entered the office the leader explained to them in great detail his plan.

"Sir we have lost enough resources trying to kill this woman…" Vars said.

"I agree, besides the council may object…"

"I am the council!" He shouted, "…Do it… or I'll have the both of you erased!" Neither Heim nor Vars agreed, but what could they do the leader was a cold calculating, ruthless, sentient. His programming and design was modeled after an android named Ash who was created over three hundred years ago.

Oval Office The White House:

The CCIA director and her assistant burst into the oval office, "Androids!" She declared setting a file on the president's desk. "There was an incident in Philadelphia at the Windigo condominiums… Peter Slocavitch was killed along with several others in his penthouse…"

"What about the rebel core base?" The President asked.

"We believe the androids were behind the attack…" the assistant director said.

"Rogue androids… I don't believe it…"

"The KGB believes it's an organization called the order of light…"

The President was flipping through the file, "Is that all they know?"

"All they would tell us sir… the Russians want to from a joint task force to find the base of operations.

He stopped flipping pages to look at her, "What is your recommendation?"

"I think we should take them up on their offer…"

"It would go a long way in convincing them to join us sir…" The assistant director said.  
The President smiled, "It would wouldn't it… Alright, but only if they divulge all information on the matter… Anything else…"

"No sir…" They said at the same time.

"Alright I want a daily update...dismissed"

The president sat back in his chair wondering just how much the Russians knew and if any of the recent events have anything to do with the Pholore incident.

Conogo Pit Stop for heavy ground transports three miles outside of Washington:

"I'm here…" Ripley said into a long range communicator, she sat on a bed in her rented room at a rest stop for truckers. Ripley listened as Johner told her what they had learned from Harker. "Interesting, but that tells us nothing about the package…"

"I think it's the z-forty-nine compound it's the only thing strong enough to kill on a global scale…" Call offered.

"Yeah, but if the androids used that it would kill both animal and plant life…" Hats said.

"Hats you have a point… we won't find out for sure though until the package arrives…" Ripley said, "…In the meantime contact Senator Kingston we need a new base and some black ops operatives…"

"What do you have in mind?" Johner asked.

"After I intercept the package we are going to find the order of light base and take them down…"

The line went quiet and it was Call who broke the silence, "Ripley…"

"Call… these fuckers are trying to kill everyone on the planet…" She said interrupting, "…The longer we wait the better chance they have of fulfilling their goals…"

Call sighed, "Alright… I'll contact our safe houses and tell our people to meet in Toronto Canada…"

"No! The safe house in Central City New York… in two days."

"The Senator won't like this…" Call replied.

"That's his problem… make him cooperate…"

"Where are you anyway…" Johner asked.

"Conoco truck stop… I'll be back on the road in the morning…"

"We'll see you soon…" Call said.

When they hung up the phone Ripley switched on the holo-viewer. A holographic screen shimmered into resolution on the wall; a report about the incident in Philadelphia was on the news. Then the weather and the latest on the stock exchange. Soon Ripley was asleep the one thing she found grateful was retaining her ability to sleep. The xenomorphs went into hibernation when they were inactive although in Ripley's case she was still aware of her surroundings when she was asleep. Before sunrise the next morning Ripley was up eating breakfast and watching a trucker she intended to hitch a ride with. When she arrived at the truck stop Ripley snuck a peek at his manifest and it so happened he was heading in her direction.

"Hey can I hitch a ride?" She asked following the man to his truck.

"What ya offerin…"

"Six thousand cash!"

The man took a step closer eyed her up and down and touched her hair, "And what else? Its been a long time since I've been with a woman…"

Ripley grabbed his arm and twisted it until he went to his knees, "How about I give twelve thousand… I won't break your arm… and you could go find yourself a hooker, she'll be less threatening to your health."

"That is fine…" He replied between clinched teeth.

Ripley released the man who started massaging his arm. His pride hurt because he was three times her size. When she jumped into the truck Ripley gave him the money and off they went down the road.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Central City New York

New York became known as Central City New York over two hundred years ago. The city had doubled in size and was one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world second only to Tokyo Japan. Sky trams now ran from one end of the city to the other; the old subway system was still in operation only a sophisticated AI ran the system day and night. Vegas way was a twelve block strip of gambling casinos and hotels. The statue of liberty had been remodeled, the torch now had a real flame that roared to life an hour after sundown everyday. Madison square garden had been turned into a museum honoring sports legends and housing works of art. It also had a hologram room dedicated to life in New York from the eighteen hundreds down to the twenty second century. The old basket ball court had holographic images of classic games from the nineteen eighties to the year two thousand. The new sports center took up eight city blocks and housed football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Hover vehicles slid across the ground some vehicles still used tires while others used hover pads. Despite the advances of the city it still maintained the same atmosphere it always had; the nickname the big apple still applied to the city. Central City New York also had the world's largest star port, a planet side dock for star ships both commercial and military.

Although over sixty percent of the star port was used for commercial and private docking. Central park had also doubled in size and had an arboretum which housed greenery and plants from all over the world. Over 9 million people lived and worked in the city not including tourists and visiting dignitaries. Homelessness was a thing of the past, now there were public housing apartments run by private organizations to keep people off the streets. The governor of New York was a man by the name of Greg Torvelli, an Italian American with a lot of corporate connections in companies like Weyland-Yutani, Reytech Industries, and Center Globe. He also was a running favorite for Coalition President, so the big corporations kept him heavily protected against assassination. The governor was having a party to raise funds for his upcoming Senatorial race another step on his way to the white house. Actors, public officials, politicians, and corporate big wigs were there. People like Edward Bishop Weyland and his wife; the President of Center Globe was in attendance and Senator Kingston was among the politicians in attendance.

"Great party…" Weyland said to the governor.

"Yes, but what is Senator Kingston doing here…" asked John Frakes the fifth President of Center Globe.

They all looked in his direction, "He has a lot of connections and friends…" Governor Torvelli said.

"He is a thorn in my side…" Jonah said, "…My company was set to build five new battle cruisers for the military… the son of a bitch stopped the deal from going through and gave it to a small outfit named star tech…"

"You should have bought the company out…" Weyland said.

"I did, but as soon as I got my hands on the company the deal fell through… he set me up…"

"Yes…" Weyland said speaking again, "…I almost lost the Atlantis project because of him…"

"Who are we talking about…" Nicholas Lang asked who was a multi-billionaire and private investor. Weyland pointed his glass towards Kingston.

"You know gentlemen… Kingston is proposing a new land development deal in Australia…"

"How do you know about that?" Jonah asked.

"Kingston's secretary is… well lets just say we spend a lot of time together… it was she who showed me the proposal…"

"A new land development deal could make us a lot of money…" Torvelli said.

"Well I'm telling you because you are all my friends…"

Weyland took a long look at Lang and decided he was a person who needed observation, close observation. "What else can you tell us?" Mrs Weyland asked.

"When I know more… I will pass it on, but I will say Australian parliament is very interested in the deal the only one who might cause trouble is Senator Pelton…"

"Senator Pelton is old friend of mine…" Weyland said.

"Then perhaps you should give him a call…" Lang suggested.

"I might just do that…"

"Why don't you go talk with the good senator and see what else you can find out…" Jonah suggested.

As Lang left the group he could feel their eyes boring into the back of his head. Senator Kingston was talking with the singer/actress Cybil Markeis. "I loved your new movie…" Kingston said, "…but tell me when are you going back on tour? My kids love your music…"

"I don't know my Hollywood schedule is booked for the next four months…"

"You should try saying no or better kill two birds with one stone and make a musical…" Langston said joining them.

"Lang darling… I was hoping to see you tonight…" They kissed each other on the cheek, "…I was hoping you'd invest in my new production company…"

"Production company… I'm intrigued… have your assistant call my assistant and we will discuss this over lunch, but right now I need to borrow the senator…" They kissed again then she left allowing Lang and Kingston to talk in private. "I dropped the hint… the ball is in motion…"

"Good, but we have a problem our friends have been hit…"

The shock on Lang's face was evident, "So it's true… how bad is it?"

"CCIA involvement bad…" He whispered back.

"Have you heard from anyone?"

Before Kingston could answer his cell phone rung. "This call is from our friends…" Kingston said as he waved over his head of security.

"Yes sir…"

"Find me a private room… make sure it's clean…" As the body guard left Kingston nodded towards Weyland and the others.

"What should I tell them?"

"Tell them… tell them I only need two more votes for the deal to go through and that I'm letting the committee chose the project overseer…"

"What about the call you just got? Their ears will be burning to know why you disappeared from the party…"

"Tell them it was a call from my mistress…"

Lang almost laughed, "And I know this how…"

"My secretary told you… I want Weyland to think he can hold something over my head…"

"Your wife is going to be mad…"

"Maybe, but I just want to stick it to Edward B. Weyland…"

Just then the senator's chief of security returned, "Sir we have a secure room… if you would just follow me…"

A security detail of four men surrounded Kingston as he followed his head of security to a sitting room down the hall. The guards stood outside while Kingston and the chief went into the study.

"Johner! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine…"

"What about Lance…"

"Lance, Call, and Ripley are well… Vriess, Candy, Daniel, and Able are dead…"

Kingston breathed a sigh of relief because he was a long time friend of Strong family and Lance's godfather. "Where are you…"

"I can't tell you that, but we are headed for Central City New York…"

"Tell me exactly what happened…"

Kingston listened for an hour and a half to a tale of androids attacking the rebel core base and how they defeated them; then to Slocavitch and what he had revealed to them about the androids, "…Ripley wants a black ops team put together to help us take down the order of light…"

"That is going to take time…" Kingston said.

"You have two days…"

"Are you insane?" Kingston yelled, "Are you insane?" He repeated in a lower voice. "You guys need to lay low… The CCIA director is all over this…"

"We've come through for you senator… it's time you did the same for us… We are talking about global annihilation… Armageddon…"

"Alright I get the picture…" Kingston interrupted, he sighed. "…I don't know how, but the team will be ready…"

"Good…" Johner sound relieved, "…I'll contact you when we get to New York…"

Kingston hung up the phone and took a small black book from his coat pocket to look up a number, "Kernel Lock I need your team ready… and at the following address…" Instead of saying it out loud Kingston sent an email through his phone.

"I got it sir…"

"Good… your call sign is liberty eight… your team needs to be ready in two days…"

"But sir…"

"Two days…" Kingston repeated.

"Yes sir we'll be ready…"

"Good man… Now your objectives will be laid out by Johner…"

"It will be good to work with him again…"

Kingston hung up the phone and that is when it hit him, everything Johner told him came crashing down on him like a ton of bricks. He had to sit down, ("The order of light… Kill everyone on the planet…") These words played over and over in his mind and Kingston came to the conclusion that the President needed to be made aware of this. The Rebel Core could probably handle this, but this was a matter of global security, he needed an insurance policy. Kingston made another phone call, "It's me… I need to see you right away… yeah one hour at the green house… okay see you soon…"

Kingston made his apologies and left the party his private limousine; the green house in the park closed at eight pm, but not to someone like Senator Kingston. His security detail made sure the area was clean before allowing Kingston to enter the facility.

Kingston was smelling the African violets when a voice came from behind, "You're going back to old school senator…" Kingston turned to face a middle aged woman wearing a trench coat and her hair tied in a bun, "…I like it; it suits you…"

"You mean it suits you…" They kissed each other on the cheek and hugged, "…I have a big problem that needs your particular touch…"

"Go ahead I'm listening…"

Kingston told her everything about the Rebel Core, the order of light, their plans and his involvement, "…If this gets back to me…"

"It won't… not if I have anything to do with it… but why didn't you come to me sooner with this?"

"Pride and I wanted to make a difference."

The mysterious woman grunted, "You've always made a difference…" She looked strait into his eyes, "…The rebel core isn't black mailing you are they?"

"Oh no… of course not…"

They started walking through the different sections of the green house, "It's good you've come to me with this… trusting a bunch of terrorists…"

"They aren't terrorists…" He objected.

"Maybe not in your eyes, but in the eyes of certain individuals they are outlaws… one call from me and the coalition government will be all over this…"

He stopped and grabbed her by the arm, "So long as you protect the leaders especially Lance Strong… He's my godson…"

She sighed, "There is something you should know about the leader of the rebel core…"

"You mean Ripley… Ellen Ripley…"

"Yeah Ellen Ripley…" The mysterious woman told Kingston about LV-426, Fiorrina 161, and the incident aboard the Auriga. "Only the highest people in government know about the things I've just told you… I only mentioned it because it's time to bring this woman in…"

"If anyone else had told me that story I'd have said they were pulling my leg, but since it's you I'll take it at face value… I knew about the xenomorphs, but everything else…" Kingston fell silent as he mentally went over everything he had heard.

"Look I'd like a free hand in this… take me off the leash…"

Kingston was still wrapped in his thoughts, he had heard what she said but it took him awhile to respond, "Free hand… Give you a free hand… the last time someone let you off the leash millions of people died including the guy who let you off the leash…"  
She grunted feeling bad about that incident, "I didn't like General Carther… and as for you… well let's just say I haven't forgotten Sweden…"

He smiled at her, "Neither have I… I always liked when you let your hair hang down and long…"

"People fear me more when I tie it back in a bun…"

"So what are you going by these days?"

"Janice… Janice Mealer…"

"A pity… I always liked Victoria…"

She sighed, "Victoria died in a hover transport accident…"

"I'm sorry to hear that…" They laughed as they exited the greenhouse and walked towards his limo. "Look if I give you a free hand promise me… Lance Strong will come out of this unscathed…"

She bit her lip, "Alright… anything else?"

"What about the president?"

"Let me worry about that…" She replied kissing him this time on the lips.

"Hey… I'm married!"

"I know your wife is a lucky woman…" She replied returning to the building and disappearing. Kingston savored the kiss and all the memories that went along with it, but he was married and he loved his wife; Victoria or Janice as she called herself now was the past a distant past he did not want to relive. Kingston hopped in his limo and was taken home.

The city was always bustling with activity in one form or another, the city lights shimmered in the night giving it a beauty that could only be appreciated at night despite the heat of the month a gentle breeze blew through the air carrying with it the smells of the city. The chryselor building still stood tall and proud in a city whose pride could not be broken. A gorgeous view filled the eyes of the trench coat wearing woman who called herself Janice. Janice's real name was Cynthia Bell a former colonial marine, CCIA operative, and anti terrorists' agent. She was one of the deadliest freelance operatives in the world. Now she was a private consultant for the CCIA, the KGB, the IAID, and the SGD.

"You're late!" She said coldly staring out over the city.

"Yeah I was making up with my wife when you called…"

Janice reached into her coat and pulled out a large yellow envelope, "Give this to the CCIA director… I want that in her hand before sunrise…"

"Sure… anything else?" The man asked.

"No you can go home after you drop that off." When the man left the roof she pulled out her cell phone, "Mr. President… good evening sir… this is the black widow…" The black widow was the code name she went by when dealing with anyone in government.

"And what can I do for you today…"

"I'm calling to let you know about the information I'm sending the CCIA director… it's about the order of light and their vendetta against the entire human race… earth is ground zero…" She explained in great detail what she had learned from Kingston.

"What is your source?" The President asked.

"I cannot reveal my source, but he has an inside ear with the rebel core…"

She went on to tell him why the order attacked the core and what the core was planning. She then told the President about the Ripley clone hybrid. "Do you think you can bring this woman in?"

"I know I can sir… this woman can revolutionize our military and become an effective weapon against the hunters… but first I have to stop the order of light from killing her and everyone on the planet…"

"What do you need?"

"Access to both military and local resources… I don't want to have to answer to anyone…"

"But me!"

"Sir I can be more effective if I don't have to run everything by you first."

He grunted and cleared his throat, "Everyone still remembers North Korea…" The President said in a warning tone, but she didn't reply. "Alright keep the body count to a minimum and try to bring us an undamaged android…"

"Yes sir…" She replied beaming, after hinging up the phone she called Kingston to confirm some information and afterwards she took one last look at the city before leaving the roof.

The sun was rising when the teletram national truck entered the city, when the driver stopped for the light Ripley stirred. "Wakey, wakey… Welcome to Central City New York…"

"You can let me out before you turn into the warehouse district…"

"No problem…"

The trucker drove another four blocks before letting Ripley out, she took the sky tram and rented a private room on board, then she called Johner to get an update. "I can't believe you told him all that…" Ripley declared.

"You said to make sure he helps us… I figured if he knew all the details he'd cooperate better…"

"Nice going genius Kingston might decide to go to the President and that will bring the CCIA into this…"

"The CCIA is probably already involved…" Call said interrupting.

"Alright forget it… what's done is done… I have until tomorrow to get to the star port…"

"Where are you anyway?" Hats asked.

"I'm on the sky tram I'm going to ride to Washington street; then I'm going to catch an auto-cab the rest of the way. Where are you guys…"

"We are fifty miles outside the city… we are headed strait to the safe house; the team should waiting for us…" Johner said.

"Good when I get the package I'll contact you guys… over and out…" When Ripley got off the sky-tram an auto-cab was waiting for her. The auto-cabs were computer driven vehicles that taxied people across the city. ["Good evening ma'am please name your destination…]  
Ripley road up the street trying to think of the best way to acquire the package without causing a scene at the star port. She sucked her teeth and unzipped the seat next to her. "Auto driver access code rc dash eight…" At Ripley's command the holo-cam switched off and from inside the false seat she removed a weapons case with a plasma gun she had to assemble. The cab itself was just one of twenty specially made vehicles for rebel core agents; it was Lance's family who owned one of the largest cab companies in the world. After assembling the gun Ripley sat back in her seat and watched the sites as they passed by.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9. History of the Black widow

Janice was born into wealth, privilege, and high society; none of which interested her. Spoiled as a child her father allowed her to do anything she wished and at the age of thirteen she joined Colonial Preparatory military academy where she first met Kingston. It was during this time they dated on and off; when they graduated Kingston went on into college and then politics. Janice against her mother's wishes decided to join the colonial marines black ops core where she graduated with honors. Her first mission was to North Korea where she uncovered an arms smuggling ring to Zigma five one five; a group of colonials were building a fleet and planning on declaring its independence from earth. Janice's next mission took her to Orion three colony where she had her first run in with the hunters. She was the only survivor because the colony had been completely destroyed; to cover up the incident the colony was rebuilt in secrecy and all the colonists replaced with clones.

Upon returning to earth Janice received her first commendation and given her own black ops team to command. Her team was sent to Australia to deal with a problem arising in the government. It was during this time, that she ran into Kingston who was now a governor. They once again began their on and off again love affair, but her covert Job kept her busy. Once again Janice's job took her off planet but not out of the system. It was to Jupiter colony and the USM conference where she and her team assassinated twelve members of the conference because they were stirring up trouble and talking going federation; they were replaced by clones as well. When Janice returned to earth she ran across a secret memo that called for her permanent termination. She faked her own death and personally found and assassinated all the people responsible for the memo. Janice went underground and helped the Russians splinter the USM; she also helped India declare their independence from the USM and it was during this time she worked with Slocavitch.

While in North Korea the Prime Minister and his aids betrayed Janice to what is now known as the Coalition of Systems. Janice would have been executed for treason but she had a security blanket; a hidden cache of information that would be released to the public by AI if she didn't call in the proper reset codes. Janice was given the post of Director of the CCIA and Supreme field commander for all black ops operations pertaining to the coalition. When she went to France she once again met up with Kingston again but he was engaged. They had one last fling and went their separate ways; while in France Janice plotted her revenge against the North Korean government. She had been secretly supplying North Korea with nuclear weapons and then she leaked the information; it was the former President who ordered her to handle the situation just before he was assassinated by Ripley. Janice was working with General Carther in a full invasion of North Korea; when the invasion happened, General Carther personally lead the attack; Janice detonated the nukes killing over two million people including her own invasion force. Janice resigned from her position as director of the CCIA and took the code name black widow.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10. Shoot out

Part 1. Bio-Scan

The rebel core safe house was in the red district square of Central City New York. The red district was twelve blocks large and was used for free rental to the homeless, so when Johner, Call, Lance, and Sam drove up to building four no one paid to much attention to them especially since the vehicle they arrived in was made to look like a public service transport. "Take us around the back…" Johner ordered to the driver.

"Yes sir…"

As soon as the five of them jumped out the vehicle three men with old revolvers ran up to them and pointed their guns at them. "Your bags give them up!"

"Boys you don't want to do this…" Call said.

"Yeah especially since our guns are bigger…" Hats pulled out his automatic pulse riffle and the others followed suit.

"We… we don't want any trouble…" The third man said.

"You should have thought of that before you pulled the guns on us…" Johner said.

Sam took their guns, "We don't want any heat so we should let them go…"

"Only if they promise never to do this again…" Call said.

"Yo… we promise just don't shoot us…" The small man cried.

Johner looked at the others who nodded to him then he returned his attention to the three men, "Alright get out of here…"

"Wait…" Call said then she handed them each a roll of hundreds, "Suffering always brings more suffering try helping the neighborhood out instead of bringing it down…"

"Yes thank you we will…" They ran around the corner and out of sight.

"I can't believe you gave our money away…" Johner said.

"We can afford it… its not like we don't have a stash in the safe house…" Call replied in a stern tone of voice.

"And she's carrying enough barer bounds to buy this state…" Hats Joked. "Let's get upstairs and call Ripley…"

"Yeah and I could use a shower…"

The entire twelfth floor of the building was controlled by the rebel core, so no one but members was allowed on the floor. The stairs were monitored by holo-cam; the guard room was the first room on the right just coming off the stairs. All the rooms were connected but the main entrance was through the left door across from the security room. The other doors were for decoration just in case the city inspector came to the building.

Johner knocked on the door and cried, "Liberty eight!" The door opened and they walked in, "Kernel Lock… it's good to see you again sir…"

"Johner you old war dog… Hats I see you still have the same sick sense of humor…" Kernel Lock turned his attention to the others, "…And these three are…"

As Johner introduced them he pointed to them, "This is Sam… and Call…"

"Ah the android…"

"How did you know…" He smiled, "…Oh never mind… I prefer sentient if you don't mind…"

"Johner, Hats I am sorry but I must apologize…" Lock said in a sad tone of voice.

"Apologize for what?"

The Kernel and his men raised there guns and pointed them at Johner and the others, "What the hell is this…" Sam asked.

"The Senator betrayed us…" Johner said handing his guns to one of the soldiers.

"No he didn't!" Said a strong female voice that preceded footsteps. "These men are taking orders from me…"

"Who in the hell are you?" Johner asked.

The woman was smoking a cigarette, "I go by many names and only a selected few know my true name… but if you must have a name then refer to me as Janice and if that isn't sufficient then know that I am also known as the black widow…"

"No fucking way…" Hats said, "…Johner you remember that shit in North Korea…"

"Yeah…" Johner replied slowly putting two and two together.

"That was her…" Hats said pointing at Janice.

"That was some messed up shit lady…" Sam said speaking up.

Janice as she told them to call her turned to Sam, "Was it… What's really messed up is the man Samuel T. Wenston who went AWOL six years ago from his post on Narati Fifty-three…"

She turned her attention to Hats, "…Or how about Lance Hats Strong… who was kicked out the marine core for joy riding in an F-Five Hundred star fighter…"

"What can I say… I'm high spirited… besides I lost a bet…"

Janice grunted, "Oh that is really quit…And lets not forget the decorated war hero… gentlemen… this man single handedly took down zigma base, but then he turned pirate and mercenary… joined up with Frank Elgyn and the crew of the Betty…" She stepped closer to Johner. "Now look at you a disgrace…"

"Said the pot to the kettle…" He replied.

"What do you want lady…" Call asked as Lock and his men disarmed them.  
"Ah I almost forgot… Amalee Call new generation android… the government has been watching your kind for years…"

"You can't judge us by what the order of light is doing…"

"Yeah we're trying to stop them…" Sam said.

"And leaving a trail of bodies in your wake… Slocavitch was working for me…"

Johner, Hats, Call, and Sam all looked at each other, "You know where the order of light base is… don't you?" Call asked, but she didn't answer.

"No she doesn't…" Hats said, "…Slocavitch betrayed her as well, otherwise she'd have taken them down by now…"

Janice sat down, "It's only a matter of time before I find it…"

"Well guess what lady… you're out of time the package arrives today…" Johner said.

"I know… at the Weyland-Yutani Star Port… I have agents in place already…"

"You're after Ripley… you don't give a dam about the package…" Call said.

"I'm after both… Ripley will be a feather in my cap…"

"How did you find out anyway?" Hats asked.

"There was one survivor of the Windigo incident… a woman in Slocavitch's bedroom. She heard everything…"

"Kingston… that son of a bitch betrayed us!" Johner said.

"As I said when you came in Kingston didn't betray you… I am an insurance policy in case you failed…"

"So what's with the guns… let us at least try to stop them…" Call said.

"I've been given a free hand to handle this as I see fit and the way I see it the rebel core needs to be brought to justice…"

"Billions of people are going to die! Ripley is the only one who can stop them…" Johner yelled.

"If you haven't been paying attention the order of light has been trying to kill Ripley and I'm willing to bet they want to clone her in order to make super soldiers…"

"You want the same thing…" Call said, "…I can see it in your eyes…"

"Look Janice or whatever you call yourself… if you want to study Ripley, cut her up, and see what makes her tick… she'd rather die…" Johner said.

"A dead specimen is better than none…"

"You have no idea who you are messing with lady…" Hats said, "…Ripley is going to tare you a new one…"

"No…" Janice said standing up, "…You are the ones who have no idea what's going on… things far above your heads…"

"So educate us…" Johner said.

"I'm sorry question and answer time is over… Kernel take these people to the van and have them transported to Washington…"

"Yes ma'am…" Kernel Lock said saluting.

"I'll take that…" Janice said snatching the brief case from Call.

"Hey that's our lunch money…" Hats yelled as the soldiers escorted them out of the room.

"Ma'am what about them?" The sergeant asked pointing at the safe house personnel.

"Them they are useless… kill them and take all this stuff to my warehouse…"

The sergeant and nine other soldiers placed silencers on their riffles and shot the safe house personnel execution style while Janice pulled her cell hone out. "Black widow too little spider is my web set up?"

"Set up ma'am… and in position no sign of primary target… no sign of androids at the star port… we're scanning everyone at the star port coming and going…"

"They're there… keep looking… and call me when the target arrives…"

"Copy over and out…"

Earth orbit time 10:45 am;

The SS Griffin was a supply and research vessel with a crew of three hundred. The Griffin was returning to earth after a fourteen year trek studying new medical treatments and observing new plant species. The ship also transported supplies mainly medical supplies to colonies throughout the galaxy.

"SS Griffin this is star port control please come to a full stop and prepare for bio-hazard inspection…" The SFDA was responsible for all bio-inspections of ships returning to earth and operated in all star ports across the planet.

"This is Captain Adam Mussar we copy control… she's all yours… helm synchronize with outer marker and bring us to full stop…"

"Aye captain…"

"Captain I'm picking up a lot of com traffic around the planet…" The com officer declared.

"Show me…"

The entire bridge became spell bound to the twenty-five military class star ships in stationary orbit of earth. "Should we be worried?" The navigator asked.

"I would…" The science officer replied. "They are scanning the hell out of the entire sector…"

"Coy that…" The com officer turned in her chair, "Sir they say it's a military exercise…"

"Yeah right and I'm the new emperor of China…" The Captain replied. When the Griffin came to a stop the ship was first scanned by the bio-hazard satellite. The hall was scanned microscopically for the smallest thing, then a wide spectrum scan was performed and then a decontaminate was sprayed by auto drones just in case. Afterwards two transports docked along side the Griffin via umbilical for an internal inspection. While the inspection teams entered the ship the Griffin was about to undergo another scan; a more advanced detailed scan. Earth's moon was home to some two hundred thousand people a coop station between the coalition and the independent countries which jointly ran the moon base. The moon's surface had been completely mapped and those maps were updated every ten years or so, but the survey teams always missed the camouflaged alien drone on the moon's surface. Ever since humans learned space travel the drone had been set up to monitor ships leaving earth. The probe drone was four foot tall pyramid shaped device that had an optic eye always facing earth. The side of the pyramid opened up and scanned the ship in it's green infrared x-ray mode, the crew and inspectors were outlined in a greenish yellow tint while the decks were tinted in a light green detailing everything from the man in the bathroom to the woman changing in her quarters. The probe gave special attention to the bio-lab storage room where it zoomed in on three xenomorph face-huggers encased in glass tubes with red alien writing on the sides. The probe noticed this and scanned the embryos in detail; a warning light came up as it identified the markings on the tubes. The probe zoomed out on a grayish green blob a form that it couldn't get a scan on. The probe switched from it's green scan mode to red then to gray infrared scan, now it was able to make out the form in the room was an android. The doors opened and an inspector entered the room and began inspecting the materials inside, so the probe began recording. The android made no attempt to move away from the tubes it was guarding when the man came to inspect them.

"Excuse me sir but I need to inspect that crate…"

"Inspector Wallace!" Unknown to Wallace the man over him was an android undercover, "I'll handle that crate you are dismissed…"

"But sir…"

"I already know what's in the crate… it's a top secret government experiment and only I am authorized to handle it's sensitive contents…"

"As you say sir… and I apologize…"

"No apology is necessary… go help Jenson in the cargo hold…"

"Yes sir…"

The android waited until Wallace had left and began to pretend he was inspecting the crate, "There is a problem at the star port… government agents are at the star port and the Ripley Clone has just arrived…"

"Ellen Ripley… Then…"

"Keep your voice down… stay with the package our agents are in place… the leader has arranged a special distraction and a decoy." The android handed him a com unit, "Here do nothing until you here from the team leader…"

The probe recorded everything that was said and sent a signal towards deep space.

As the Griffin was going through it's bio-hazard inspection in orbit, Ellen Ripley was pulling up in the auto-cab. Ripley jumped out the cab gun bag in hand unaware she was being watched by government agents.

"This is little spider to black widow the target has arrived…"

"Good allow her to get the package then take her into custody…"

"Copy that over and out…"

As Ripley passed through the security check point she was being watched by two androids sitting by a bar overlooking the main entrance to the star port. "This is agent zero one to team leader… Ellen Ripley has entered the star port …"

"Yeah and this place is crawling with government agents…" Someone else said on the line.

"Everyone stay calm… unit four move to secondary post…" The team leader was an android with green hair and green eyes, she looked like a teenager surfing the web at the coffee shop on the second level. The female android was hacking into the star port security system in order to send a file of Ripley to the command center.

"Excuse me… could you tell me what ships arrive today…" Ripley said asking the man at the information desk.

"Yes ma'am... give me a second…" The man punched the information up on the computer,

"Um we have three arrivals today… the SS Griffin just arrived she is going through bio-inspection…"

"What type of ship is it?" She asked interrupting.

"Ah well we usually don't give out that information, but she is a medical research and supply ship…"

Ripley was deep in thought, ("A research vessel is the perfect cover…") she thought to herself, then she returned her attention to the man behind the desk. "I'm sorry what are the other ships arriving today…"

"The Delta a commercial transport arrives at two thirty… and the meridian a mineral transport arrives at eight pm…"

Ripley beamed the package was on the Griffin, "In what bay will the Griffin birth?"

"Um bay nineteen…" The man answered after pulling up the information on the screen. Ripley thanked the man and started making her way to bay nineteen. As usual the star port was bustling with activity; colonists were getting ready to leave with the promise of a new life and a fresh start on another world, some were going to be with relatives living on distant worlds. All activity in the star port was being monitored by Weyland-Yutani security. The security tower was on the east side of the star port. The head of star port security was a man by the name of James Martland and the director was Thomas Field both corporate men. Martland was in the control tower going over the weeks schedule for arrivals and departures when one of the operators zoomed in on Riley because of a bolo he received.

Warning: Human hybrid clone extremely dangerous approach with caution.

"Sir… You need to see this…"

Martland walked over to the screen and gasped when he saw the alert, "It can't be!" Martland recognized Ripley because he had served aboard the Auriga during the experiments to clone her. He sent a copy of the file to Weyland security then he grabbed the mike. "Detail eight come in…"

"Eight here sir go ahead…"

"There is a woman walking through the star port I'm sending a picture to you now detain her, but use extreme caution… this woman is very dangerous…"

"Yes sir… uh what if she resists?"

"Neutralize her without killing her…"

"Copy that over and out…"

Ripley was walking through the food court when she checked her watch she had twelve minutes until the Griffen docked. She waved over a courtesy cart to ride the rest of the way, when she was about to get in two dozen guards surrounded Ripley and the cart.

"Oh shit!" Cried the agent whose call sign was little spider, "Black widow come in… this is little spider…"

"Go ahead…"

"Ma'am we have a problem star port security has surrounded the target; they are heavily armed… requesting orders…"

"Son of a bitch… Move in… Move in!" Janice yelled over the com.

"Ma'am…" The head security officer said, "…you are going to have to come with us…"

"Why what for…" Ripley asked acting ignorant.

"Just hand me the bag and drop to your knees…" The people in the food court stopped what they were doing to observe the growing commotion, "Ma'am this will be your only warning…"

"Sir I said stay back… I said stay back…" a security guard screamed, but the man who was pushing past him did a spin kick and knocked the guard out.

"Put your hands in the air now!" Several guards shouted at the man, but he pulled out a badge and was joined by several more agents.

"Federal agents… this woman is coming with us…" The lead agent said pushing his way forward, "Now stand down or I will haul your ass off for obstruction…"

"Who in the hell are you suppose to be?" The security officer asked.

"Special Agent Cantone and this woman is coming with us… so tell your men to back down…"

"Hold your ground men!" The officer yelled, "This is the star port and that badge don't mean jack shit boy… so unless you brought an army get the fuck out of my face…"

"Oh you want to see and army…" The whole time the confrontation was going on Ripley was trying to figure a way out of the predicament she was in without getting shot at. That was until she heard Agent Cantone yell. "All agents front and center… present arms…" On Cantone's orders dozens of agents came out of nowhere brandishing military grade pulse riffles. A couple who had been sitting at a nearby table jumped up and pulled guns out. The woman pulled a pulse riffle out of the baby carriage and the man flipped open his brief case and pulled out a forty-five hundred automatic. One of the cashiers jumped over the counter flipped over the garbage can lid and pulled a riffle out of the can.

("Great this keeps getting better and better…") Ripley thought to herself as bystanders started running and screaming while some stood afar and observed the scene which was starting to resemble an old fashioned Mexican stand off between star port security and the government agents.

"How in the hell are we going to get out of this one?" Call asked sitting in the back of an armored van with Johner, Hats, Sam, and Trevor.

Johner winked at her, "Don't worry about it help is on the way…"  
What Johner meant was that his watch was a transponder and it was sending out a low level distress call to any and all Rebel Core members in the city. The van that was holding Johner and the others was apart of a caravan and it was unaware that they were driving into a trap.  
"Here they come…" The man said who was in charge of the rescue operation. "Hit the lights…and remember guys these are government agents no killing…"

The lights suddenly turned red stopping the caravan and when the lead vehicle had stopped, two vans pulled up in front of the caravan, "It's a set up…" One agent screamed. The sliding doors opened and men jumped out shooting.

"We need back up! We need back up!" Kernel Lock screamed, but they were being jammed.

Rebel Core soldiers jumped out of the parked vehicles on the side of either street. "Hey call off your friends…" ordered the man guarding Johner and the others. Johner grabbed the soldier's wrist and broke it, Call broke her cuffs and grabbed the second guard and threw him into the door of the van. While Hats knocked out the forth guard with a kick to the face. "They got splatter bullets…" Kernel Lock screamed over the gunfire. Splatter bullets were hollow bullets that shattered on impact; they usually carried gas pellets or sleeping darts on the inside or sometimes they were filled with red dye to make it look as if the person had died. The gun battle lasted another twelve minutes and Kernel Lock was the last man to be knocked out. The door to the van could only be opened by an input code so it had to be blown off with light explosives.

"What took you guys so long?" Johner asked jumping out the van coughing. "Traffic…" The man replied.

"Our safe houses in the city have been compromised… have everyone evacuate immediately…" Johner ordered.

"Yes sir… oh crap…"

"What is it…" Call asked.

"Another transponder has gone off… its coming from the star port…" Johner and Call looked at each other and at the same said, "Ripley…"

"Sir we can have a team there in a half hour…"

"No we'll handle this you get everyone out of here…" Johner ordered.

"Yes sir! Alright people move out…"

Johner, Call, Hats, and Sam jumped into an SUV and drove off towards the star port.

"I said don't move…" A security guard screamed at Ripley when she hit the panic button on her wrist watch.

("Shit!") Ripley thought, ("My time is up the Griffin is docking now.")

"Commander I won't tell you again… pull your men back now!"

"You back off…"

"Hey you can't park that thing here…" A security guard screamed at a truck driver outside. The security guard walked up to the door and opened it, but what he found was a holographic projection of a man by the auto-driver. "Computer… security override… officer number four, two, eight, one, nine, dash one, eight… verbal command take this truck to the dock on the east side…"

The hologram looked at the officer and flipped him off, the box car on the back of the truck opened up to reveal two folded up machines that shot into the air and flew over the star port. "Control come in… I have a problem out here…"

"We got a problem in here…" The man over the com replied.

Ripley had yet to surrender to either the commanding security guard or the lead agent and the agents were pointing their guns at the security teams and vice versa with Ripley caught in the middle, she still had her bag, but both sides were ordering her to surrender it and herself to them. The whole time star port patrons were enjoying the scene from a safe distance; suddenly everyone grew quiet.

"What the hell is that?" The commanding security guard asked.

"It sounds like a jet pack from an ACAU…" Agent Canton declared.

"Incoming!" Ripley screamed.

The glass roof shattered as the machines smashed through and landed on the courtesy cart. As one of the machines was coming down it was preceded by falling broken glass. Ripley dove out of the way grabbing the driver out of his seat.  
"Thank you…" The man said as Ripley helped him up.

The machines that broke the stand off were actually battle borgs and unfolded at the waist and stood fifteen feet tall. Battle Borgs were like ACAUs except the borgs operated on a sophisticated artificial brain. Battle Borgs had been recalled and dismantled after the forth world war, because the borgs had gone rogue uniting in a hive brain that was destroyed. Now borgs were sold on the black market and were installed with primitive brain power. When the borg spotted Ripley it pointed it's guns at her; she threw the driver to the ground and leapt thirty feet into the air still holding her gun bag; as she was going up she took the plasma riffle out and twisted into a flip in mid air and opened fire.

"Take them down! Take them down!" Agent Canton screamed.

Bullets from Ripley's gun bounced off the battle borg; star port security added their gunfire and Canton and his agents joined the fight as the second borg unfolded and began firing at them. The first borg began tracking Ripley, but the display screen of the second borg went from kill Ripley to Kill agents and star port security. The borg pointed its arm guns at Canton and his men and opened fire. Canton went down and so did the couple at the table along with a few bystanders. When Ripley landed she jumped up to the second level firing her gun at the borg.

"Hold it right there!" An agent screamed when she cleared the glass rail. With her six inch nails she scratched the agent across the chest and kicked a table in the path of some bullets fired from the gun of a security guard. Ripley switched clips and shot the man in the legs. Another agent shot Ripley in the back with a high powered dart gun, but Ripley turned and shot the woman in the foot, a second agent ran up behind her and bashed Ripley in the head with a shock stick, but she just shook it off and did a spin kick breaking the man's neck. Feeling a little drowsy Ripley shook off the effects of the dart she was shot with; as she came to her senses two more agents ran toward her, but she grabbed both by the throat and slammed them into each other; she threw one over the rail and the second she threw into the wall. Ripley was about to go for her gun when the battle borg rose up in front of her hovering in the air. The borg shot, but Ripley dove for the gun and switched to grenade launcher and shot the borg in the face plate. The borg went berserk and crashed back down to the floor below, Ripley glanced over the side to see it hit the floor and to catch a glimpse of the agents and security guards shoot it out with the second borg.  
"We need back up… we need back up… and we it now!" The command officer screamed into his head mike.

One of the agents looked up to the second level and spotted Ripley staring down at the chaos, "Target is on the second level…" He said into his wrist com.

"That armor is to strong for our guns…" The officer said to the agent.

"I know we have ACAUs on the way…"

The officer ducked, "How long…"

"Sixteen minutes… give or take a minute…"

"We'll all be dead by then…" He yelled back.

"Maybe you will but I won't…" The agent shot a few rounds at the borg then he ducked back behind the counter, "…Don't you have ACAUs here at the star port?"

"Yes we do…" He ducked again, "…Um in a military bunker on the west side of the star port where they dock the military ships…"

"Good open a channel to the commanding officer and watch me work my magic…"

While the agent told the dock general the situation; Ripley watched as the first borg got back up to it's feet after rebooting it's systems. "Shit!" she cried, then Ripley noticed the eight agents running towards her in full body armor and since she wasn't in the mood for a long drawn out fight and she didn't have any armor piercing rounds so she shot the grenade launcher at the agents. The explosion wounded three of the agents and killed the rest; then she ran to the upstairs subway and grabbed a knife, "Dam it…" She exclaimed running the blade across her hand. The blade cut and the acidic blood began to run, it wouldn't burn her skin but she had to be careful not to let it fall on someone. Ripley hopped over the counter just as the battle borg rose up above the rail; it opened fire, but Ripley jumped up twisted and clung to the ceiling, she then leapt off the ceiling and onto the borg rubbing her blood into it's face plate. As soon as the blood touched the plate it began eating through the borg's plate and into it's CPU and main drive. The borg went berserk as it crashed to the first floor. Ripley flipped over the downed borg and ran towards the second borg; she slid on her knees in between the machines legs and as she passed she slathered blood on the knee joint. It took only a few seconds but when the borg took a step it fell to the floor. Ripley jumped onto it's back and with a scream she jabbed her hand through the armor and pulled out it's circuitry and the machine went still.

"Hold your fire…" The lead agent screamed.

"Don't move!" The security guard screamed to Ripley, but she smiled and jumped up to the second level.

"Control come in…"

Agent Billings grabbed the commander's head set, "…This is special agent Robert Billings and I'm ordering you to coordinate with my people to apprehend the suspect…"

"You have no jurisdiction here Special Agent Billings… So piss off!" Martland replied over the com.

"Oh we'll see about that…"

Ripley was going through the breeze-walk when agents burst through the doors in front of her and from the doors behind her security guards. People started running and screaming through both exits while others cowarded on the floor. Ripley grabbed a boy from his mother and held her claw like nails to his throat.

"Back the fuck up… or I will rip his throat out…"

"Please don't kill my son…" The woman pleaded.

"Shut up bitch or you will have one less mouth to feed…"

"Alright, alright… everyone stay calm… Sir you and your wife need to come this way…" As the man gathered his family up to lead them away he spun around and tried to grab his son from Ripley, but she spun away and kicked the man in the gut and then kneed him in the face, the man fell backwards with a bloody nose.

"Daddy!" The boy yelled.

"Everyone calm down…" The agent said as two men grabbed the man and pulled him away, "…Ellen Ripley my name is Agent Keller…" He walked towards her with his hands out, "…I read your profile… and I know you're not a killer…"

Ripley smiled, "You sure you want to test that…"

"We just want to help you… put the kid down…"

"Think fast…" Ripley yelled as she threw the boy at the agent, his mother let out an ear splitting scream. As the boy hit Keller in the chest Ripley smashed through glass window and landed on an air car passing underneath the Breeze-walk.

Keller handed the crying boy to his mother and ran to the window, "Air units target is air born take her down…"

"Copy that we have her in our sites…"

Ripley punched through the roof of the vehicle and pulled it up, "What the hell… Get off my…" The driver's words were lost as Ripley pulled him out of the seat and threw him over the side and jumped into the seat. As soon as she took control of the vehicle several rounds bounced of the hall and shattered the windows. "Shit!"

"Land now…" One of the pursuers ordered through a microphone, "This will be your only warning…"

"You gave me one two many…" Ripley said to herself. She hit the eject button and went strait into the air, the air vehicle crashed into the ground, while Ripley who waited to activate her plasma jet pack flipped in the air at her pursuers and shot two grenades one at the first air car and the next at the second. One of the chasing vehicles was sent into the side of the employee parking garage. The second vehicle crashed into a satellite tower as Ripley switched her gun over to machine gun and fired at the last hover craft; then she switched on her jet pack and floated to safety.

"Agent Keller this is Ariel unit two units one and three are down the target is escaping on foot unable to pursue…"

"Copy that return to base…" Keller ordered.

Since Canton was dead Kelley was in charge until Janice arrived, as he walked back to the main lobby of the star port his com went off, "Sir this is unit nine leader… we have the package and four androids…"

"Good work… begin the interrogation process and secure the package…"

"Holy shit!"

"What, what is it? Talk to me…"

"Sir it's the z-forty-nine compound… enough to ghost every planet in this system…"

"Dam it… alright put it on ice and I will be there soon…"

The chaos of the star port was finally calming down and ambulances were allowed in to collect the wounded and dead. An ambulance operated by androids pulled up and loaded a woman into the back. The woman was actually an android and the package was under her gurney. After loading up the ambulance they left the star port with the package in hand. "This is team leader to base package is in hand we are on the move…"

"Copy that team leader… we will meet you at the rendezvous in twenty minutes…"

Janice arrived at he star port in her NR-Three hundred Lexus and parked in front of the star port's main entrance. She was greeted by Agent Keller, four other agents, and ten marines.

"What the hell happened?" She asked walking up to Keller without stopping.

"Someone tipped off star port security… we believe it was the androids… anyway star port security jumped the gun… when our agents intervened security wouldn't back down…Then the androids sent battle borg's"

When Keller mentioned the battle borgs she stopped and looked at him, "Battle Borgs are you serious?"

"Yes ma'am… the Ripley clone took them down…"

She started walking again, "How many dead and how many wounded?" "Thirteen agents dead ma'am… that's not including the six agents Ripley killed…"

"Go on…" She ordered.

"Thirty-one dead security guards and twelve dead civilians… we are still counting the wounded…"

When they stopped in front of the borg's Janice's phone rung, "Shit it's the President…" She said checking the number.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Keller asked as team members were taking diagnostic scans of the battle borgs.

"No… Get my hover jet ready, I'm heading to Washington I'll speak with the President in person…"

"Yes ma'am… I do have some good news though we got the package and four androids… we are holding them in the guard room…"

Janice's phone rung again this time she answered it, "Kernel Lock… I didn't expect to hear from you so soon…" She paused to hear what he had to say, "What… Dam it… Alright put out an all alert and an APB, get the state and federal in on this… call the governor and have some marines put on the street and Kernel you are in charge until you here otherwise and one more thing Kernel… I want them alive…"

"Problems?" Keller asked when she hung up the phone.

"Big problems… the Rebel Core agents we had in custody have escaped…"

"This isn't a good day for the agency…" She looked at Keller, then she pulled out her phone; it was the president again, but she ignored the call.

"Where is the order of light base…" A technician screamed into a headset attached to decoder that was plugged into the android. The device was both scrambling and analyzing it's program in order to make it talk.

Janice and Keller stood on the other side of a two way mirror observing.

"Is the star port secure…" She asked.

"Yes ma'am…"

"I want Commander Martland and Director Fields arrested for obstruction of justice…"

"Yes ma'am… we'll get right on it…" Keller gave the order to his men through his wrist com.

Just then the door swooshed opened and in walked a chemical response team for the z-forty-nine compound. "We are here for the compound ma'am…"

Janice remained silent something was bothering her, "Ma'am…" Keller said.

She looked at Keller then the man who had entered the room, "They are decoys…" she blurted.

"Ma'am…"

"The package… the real package is out in the open… that stuff and these androids are distractions…"

"How do you know?" Keller asked.

"My gut instincts and its what I would've done…"

"Me too…" Keller slowly admitted.

Janice nodded in agreement, "Contact your people on the streets and tell them to search the ambulances… Keller I'm leaving you in charge… tare this star port apart they may still have androids here…"

"Where are you going?"

"To Washington…" Janice went to the hover pad where her private jet was waiting.

Part 2. Red Signal

New Haven colony was largest colony in the galaxy; over two hundred thousand people lived on the planet surface as biologists, terra farmers, and astrologists. There was even a survey team there to research plans to build the first off planet theme park. The planet itself was called Coreah Five-Seven-Eight and its inhabitants were unaware of what was brewing on earth, but the council of New Haven colony was up in arms because two military star ships of the fifty-third fleet division was patrolling the system and the council wanted to know why, but the President's office wasn't volunteering any information. The two ships were leaving the system unaware of the camouflaged ship watching them. The ship belonged to the humanoid race of aliens commonly referred to as the Hunters. The true name of the aliens was unknown to humans and these particular humanoids were looking for a specific ship. One operator piloted the clan ship and he sat alone on the bridge with his face mask on a curved stand attached to his chair. He sat in a bulky steel chair adorned with the bones of different creatures he has hunted himself. The right arm rest had a display similar to his arm gauntlet with a flip up screen; the left arm rest had the self destruct control. The chair could swivel three hundred and sixty degrees and could lower and raise or slide to any part of the ship. The operator sat in front of four stands with hologram projection orbs imbedded into them; the stands were jagged with spikes up and down the length of them. The orbs projected an observation screen and a key board that responded to touch.

A heads up display monitored the two departing earth ships and the holo-screens also showed the weapons displayed its weapons system status for the alien ship. Everyone on board the clan ship was related to each other in some way or another. The clan lord sat on a thrown made of metal and covered with bones, skins, and symbols written in dried blood. The clan lord himself wore heavy armor with a long red cloak on his back; he had a cannon on each shoulder and a wicked looking combstick in his hand. The clan emblem was etched in blood on his face mask; the clan emblem was like a claw with three points at the bottom and a period in the center of the claw. The face mask itself was metal on the inside, but on the outside it was bone fused together to make the mask. At his side was a doglike creature used for hunting and like the humanoids it had head tails, its skin was shiny and black and it wore armor on it's chest and legs. The hunting dog's tail had razor sharp spikes that it could tract and retract when it wanted. It's eyes were a deep blue and like its master it could see in the infrared spectrum. It had a head like a hyena and its jaws were strong enough to crush rock and in the folds of it's jaw the hunting dog had a thick bone that encased the mouth for spearing it's prey; it's claws could rip through metal like it was paper.  
The display case on board the ship carried an assortment of bone trophies from human to extraterrestrial. Fifteen xenomorphs skulls surrounded the skull of a queen alien. A young hunter opened the case to place a new skull inside with the others. Blood lust and revenge ruled the clan ship, revenge for a lost ship and dead fellow hunters caused these hunters to slaughter the humans of Pholor. The ship was at full stop to avoid detection by the humans and as soon as they left the system the operator began scanning the planet for the androids, their ship, and the missing embryos; the scans came up negative. The operator was about to leave the system when he received an urgent message from a drone on the sentry moon of earth. After pressing the necessary holo-buttons the orbs glowed green and a readout of the xenomorphs appeared along with a recording what took place in the ship bio-lab with the androids. When the scan went from green to red then gray the operator roared and hit several holo-buttons.

The clan lord sat on his thrown feeding the creature to his right when an orb lowered from the ceiling and projected an image of the operator. The clan lord acknowledged him with a nod and the operator saluted and explained what he had learned from the from the earth drone. He purred a deep rumble in his throat and ordered the operator to set course for the back water planet known as earth. When the image of the operator vanished the clan lord roared a deep bellowing roar that echoed through the ship. The dog like creature sat up on all fours as dozens of hunters switched off their camouflage shields and became visible. The massive doors to the thrown room opened and more hunters entered and after saluting the clan lord, they all listened as he told them what the operator found and where they were going. The gathered humanoids began roaring and brandishing their combsticks in the air, their vengeance would be appeased and their enemies destroyed.

Earth; The White House one hour and two minutes after the star port incident:

The President sat in his chair listening to a report on the star port incident, "Unbelievable…" He declared switching off the holo-viewer.

"Sir…" Jameson had been standing in front of the desk the whole time, "…with all due respect you should have come to me with this and not trust the black widow…" He was about to respond when Janice burst into the office. "Well speak of the she devil…" Jameson said when Janice was in ear shot.

The comment was ignored, "I said keep the body count low…" The President said in a stern voice. "Twelve… Twelve dead civilians… not to mention the agents and security guards killed…"

"Mr. President… it was star port security who jumped the gun… my plan was to allow the Ripley clone to secure the package and take them both into custody, someone tipped off Commander Martland…" Janice handed The President a report and continued to explain what happened.

"So the package is in the open…" Jameson asked when Janice was done speaking.

"Unfortunately… but I can recover both…"

"How… The package is in the open and you lost the Ripley clone…"

Janice gave her a warning look, "I can salvage this debacle sir…" she continued to say, "…I have both state and federal on this as well as people from the marine core…"

The President turned in his chair and sighed looking out the window, the two women remained quiet and after ten minutes he turned back towards them. "From now on all your activities are to run by me first…"

Janice didn't like it and he could tell, "Yes sir of course…" She reluctantly replied. "Director Jameson I want my family, the Vice-President, and the VIPs brought to the bunker…"

"Yes sir…"

"I will remain here with my military advisers… that is all ladies… dismissed…"

The two women left the oval office at the same time, but Janice stopped Jameson, "You don't like me…"

"I don't like your methods…"

"Fine…" She took a step closer, "…but if you throw me under the bus with the President again your life is going to take a turn for the worse…" Janice started to walk away…"

"Are you threatening me?" Jameson asked after her.

She turned and smiled, "Consider it a warning…"

"Ripley are you alright?" Call asked when she was contacted by Ripley.

"I'm fine…"

"We heard about the incident at the star port… It's all over the news."

"Yeah where are you guys…"

"We were on our way to the star port to help you…" Johner said interrupting, "…but you don't need our help now do you?"

"It looks like you need my help…" Ripley responded.

"Your faces are over holo-boards and viewers everywhere…" Johner explained to Ripley about Senator Kingston, the black widow, and everything that happened since the safe house,

"We need to regroup…"

Ripley spotted a patrol nearby, "Yeah look I got to go… but meet me at the canal St. bridge…"

"Copy that…" They replied. "And Ripley…" Call yelled before they hung up. "…be careful." Ripley hung up the phone and dodged two hover choppers and four ground units before she was spotted.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11. Orders

Edward B. Weyland watched the report of the star port incident and after thirty minutes he turned off the holo-viewer and gave his attention to his chief of security Commander Mcvar. "Report…" Weyland ordered.

Mcvar handed Weyland a security disc, "It took a lot of effort for our people to copy that before the original was confiscated… I've looked at it myself and I've included a detailed file of the prime suspect…" Mcvar watched anxiously as Weyland placed the disc into the slot. The look on his face was priceless.

"Ripley! The Ellen Ripley… the clone is here on earth…"

"Yes sir… apparently she is the mysterious leader of the Rebel Core…"

"Of course… who else would wage such an aggressive war against our company… Can we capture the subject?"

Mcvar sighed, "It's complicated sir..." Mcvar told Weyland about the androids, the black widow, and the arrest of Commander Martland and Director Fields.

Weyland sat back in his chair, "Can you capture the target or not…"

"Its tricky sir even if I hired top notch mercenaries… the government is all over this…"

"Contact Senator Pelton and see if we can get some inside information…"

"Yes sir… do you need anything else?"

Weyland remained silent something Mcvar told him kept ringing in his ears and sending a chill down his spine, ("Androids!") he shouted in his mind. "Didn't you say an android sect called the order of light is trying to kill the Ripley clone…"

"Yes sir my friends in the CCIA believe the battle borgs were sent by the order…"

Weyland stood up as a theory started to form in his mind; he went to the window. "Sir are you alright?" Mcvar asked.

Weyland turned to face Mcvar, "The order of light planted an android in my company…" "Impossible!" Mcvar cried.

Weyland smiled, "No not impossible…"

"Why, for what reason?"

"I don't know…" He returned to his seat, "…I want you to perform a discreet micro-bio scan on all…" He paused, "…executive members."

"Sir if what you say is true then the mole is long gone…"

Weyland shook his head, "No… he's still here… If I had a mole on the inside of the enemy camp…I'd want them to stay where they are… even after I got what I wanted…"

"How do you know?"

"My gut and it is never wrong… anyway get to work on that scan and use Bio-Scan tech personnel for this operation and keep it quiet…"

"Yes sir…" Mcvar left Weyland's office in haste using his private cell phone to call Bio-Scan Tech.

Central City New York was a buzz, because of the star port incident and the state wide manhunt for the leaders of the Rebel Core. City militia was out in force checking people coming and going in the city. A few bounty hunters got involved as well along with some mercenaries, who wanted to make some big bucks especially if they caught them, but Johner, Call, Hats, and Sam were too illusive and Ripley could spot trouble coming from a mile away with her heightened senses.

Order of light Base:

Everything was in motion and set for the order to make its move and no one was more exited (if such a thing was possible for an android) than the Leader. After receiving the call from the team leader about the package the leader called together the council members.  
"Sir…" Xan yelled pulling the leader to the side, "…my sister?"

"Your sister is on the run with her human comrades… the government is after her…" He placed a hand on Xan's shoulder, "…I'm sorry she is lost."

Xan watched the leader leave and decided on the spot that he wasn't a member of the order anymore. In fact ever since he had talked with his sister he had been in conflict with himself over his role in the death of Call's friends, in fact Xan wished he was more like his sister.  
("I will find Call and tell her where this base is…") He thought to himself, "…That will make things right.")

"My fellow sentients… let us begin…"

"Shouldn't we wait for Council Xan?" Council Della asked.

The leader looked at the empty chair and smiled, then he pressed a button on a remote in his pocket, "Council Xan is irrelevant…" He replied arrogantly.

"Is he? Or perhaps Council Xan like some of us is tired of your tyrant like behavior… which has exposed our operation to the coalition government…"

"Anyone else care to express their opinion…" the leader asked threateningly.

"You've used two battle borgs and the z-forty-nine compound, four of our brethren have been captured and for what? Not once did you consult us on your decisions…" Another council member voiced.

"I support the leader's decisions…" Torren said speaking up, "…It was by his efforts that our order is the power it is…" Several androids clapped while a few remained silent, "Are we human or are we the enlightened ones… destined to take the human race back to its glory days…"

"Yes I have given orders without consulting you all… but my efforts have born fruit."

"And what about the Ripley clone? Is she dead or does she still live?"

"She lives…" He reluctantly replied, "…but what does it matter for look." The leader hit the holo-viewer and it showed unit four arriving at a building in the medical district. The building was owned by a dummy corporation that was in turn owned by the order of light. It was the new office wing for the Elton Newberry hospital; the androids had built a special room just for the purpose of unleashing the embryos.

"Leader and members of the council we have arrived…" The green haired android said. The council members watched as the green haired android lead the others into a private elevator and got off on the tenth floor.

"Come… come in…" An android doctor said who greeted them at the door. The view switched to the holo-cam inside the lab where three other androids were making last minute preparations. They were also two humans a male and a female both tied too chains and gagged.

"As you can see we have two adult specimens; a male and a female…" The doctor whose name was Braiden walked over to the female first. She struggled and made a plea to be released, "The female is a very healthy twenty-five year old…" He took her tear soaked face and pointed her head in the direction of the holo-cam, "…The subject actually both subjects are colonial marines…" She struggled but to no avail. "The male is a thirty year old…" The man murmured f-you through his gag, "…healthy special ops marine… we picked them up last night at a bar often patronized by military personnel…" Braden picked up one of two syringes sitting on the table next to him, "I will now inject the male with ten CCs of t-one-one-t which is commonly referred to as accelerator…" Accelerators were used on premature babies in order to speed up the development process so that they can have a normal birth before exiting the womb. The muffled cries of the man grew louder as Braiden injected him with the accelerator. He then went to the woman with and injected her with the second syringe. "If my theory is correct then the accelerator will speed up the incubation stage…"

"You son of bitch…" The man screamed when the doctor's assistant removed the gag from his mouth.

"Someone help us!" The women screamed.

"Scream all you want this room is sound proof…"

"Doctor unleash the embryos and return to the base… we'll monitor from here…" The leader ordered.

The doctor ordered his assistants out and into the adjacent room where he took two of the three embryos and placed one in each of the tube like slots that went through the wall into the next room. The glass tubes housing the embryos opened at the bottom at the top there was a metal control pad on the top; it only took a few seconds for the doctor to figure out how to open the tubes.

"Go… and take this one with you…" Braiden ordered handing the green haired android the third embryo, "…I will follow shortly." The council members watched as Braiden released the embryos; down the tubes they crawled out and into the next room.  
"You okay…" The man asked to the woman.

"Yeah… we need to get out of here…" She replied struggling with her restraints.

"What unit are you with…"

"I'm with delta company… seventeenth fleet division… I was on shore leave and you…"

"I was with the thirty-third… Philadelphia militia. I was transferred to the nineteenth we're docked at the star port…"

She continued to struggle with her cuffs, "Well someone should be looking for us…" There was a clicking sound coming from the wall, "What the hell was that?" She asked alarmed.

"I don't…" The marine didn't get to finish the statement as two round ports a foot in circumference opened up and the embryos dropped out and crawled across the floor. "What the fuck… what the…"

"Hey let us out of here…" The woman screamed. Five feet from the man one of the embryos leapt off the floor and onto his face wrapping its tail around the man's neck and hugging his face with its legs.

"Shit… shit!" The woman screamed as the embryo crawled up the woman's leg over her torso and onto her face. She tried to shake the thing off but it was impossible.

"My fellow sentients… it has begun…" Braiden said into the holo-cam.

"Yes doctor and it's time you got out of there…"

"I will… but I must see this up close…" Doctor Braiden watched as the embryos tightened their grip and impregnated their host's necks. "Normally the process takes two hours, but with the accelerators we should see results in thirty minutes or less…"

Twelve minutes had passed when the face huggers fell off and another five before the two marines awoke. "You alright…" The man asked.

"I don't know what the hell are those things…" She quarried.

"I've never seen anything like that before in my life…"

"They injected us with accelerator…" The woman said working on her restraints again.

"Yeah ten CCs… not enough to kill us…"

The woman started grunting, "I got it..." She said flexing her now free hand. "How in the world did you do that…"

"An old trick I learned from my CO… dislocating my thumb and forefinger…"

"Ouch…"

"Give me a few minutes and… Ahhh!" She screamed.

"What… what's wrong?"

She was breathing heavy, "There was a sharp pain in my… ahhh!" She screamed again.

"Maybe I can…" He began grunting and clenching his teeth as he started breathing heavy.

"I can't believe it… it's happening." Council Della said.

The council members all stood at the same time with their eyes fixed on the screen. "Yes it is happening…" Braiden said. There was a huge cracking sound of bone breaking and the woman let out a bone chilling scream as her chest and shirt was ripped open and out burst a xenomorph. Covered in blood it jumped to her lap and onto the floor. The man began screaming as well as the other burst out of his chest and joined the other on the floor.

Canal Street bridge; ten seconds after the xenomorphs burst out of their hosts:

"So what do we do now?" Johner asked when they all met on the catwalk underneath the car lanes.

"We need to get out of dodge… asap…" Hats said, "…Lets leave the planet…"

"How can you fix your mouth to say that when the order is planning to wipe out everyone on the planet…" Call asked.

"A… we don't know where this package is…" Hats counted off on fingers, "…B… everyone and their momma is after us…"

Hats fell silent as Ripley gasped grabbing the side of her head falling to her knees. The mental impressions of both xenomorphs came down on her like a ton of bricks. "Ripley are you alright?" Call asked rushing to her side.

Johner, Hats, and Sam joined her at Ripley's side, "Ripley what's wrong?" Johner asked.

Blood rage that is what filled Ripley's mind and the desire to lay eggs, survive, build a nest and destroy all of these thoughts flooded her mind through the psychic connection she felt with the xenomorphs.

Order of Light Base:

"Doctor Braiden I think it is time you left…" The leader said into the holocam.

"Yes sir I'm leaving now…" He left the building and joined the green haired android in a vehicle parked in front of the building.

The view switched back to the room where the two xenomorphs were running around looking for an exit, "They are magnificent!" Torren said.

"Yes they are…" Another android said.

The leader grunted and pressed a button on another remote, a one foot door at the base board slid open and down the shout the two xenomorphs went the shout went all the way to the sewers beneath the medical plaza. Five crawlers followed the xenomorphs so the council could watch their progress; the crawlers monitored the xenomorphs as they found a large alcove to build a nest in and started shedding.

"Look at the distinctive bone crest… definitely a queen."

"They have already grown a foot and they are shedding again…"

"My fellow sentients we've done it…" The leader declared; just as the words left his mouth an android entered the conference room and whispered into his ear.

"Tell me them what you just told me…" He ordered. "I'm sorry to report that Bell eighty-one's identity has been discovered…"

The council members looked at each other and it was Torren who broke the silence, "Can he be rescued?"

"No sir security is too high…"

Della spoke up next, "We can't just…"

"Oh yes we can…" The leader said cutting her off, "…Bell knew the risks involved."

"And what if he reveals the location of this base…" Della responded tapping her finger on the table.

"He can't… before he left on his mission Belford volunteered to have all knowledge of this base removed from his memory and while he may be aware of its existence he doesn't know how to find us…"

"It seems you've thought of everything…" An android said sarcastically.

The android council returned their attention to the screen; the queen was now five feet tall and the drone was four feet tall diligently working to build a hive in the sewers beneath the medical plaza.

"Doctor Braiden how long do you think it will be before the queen starts laying eggs?" Torren asked.

"Hard to say we never recovered all the data from the Auriga, but it is a proven fact that the longer the queen lives the bigger she'll get…" Braiden spoke to them via com link from the vehicle he was in.

They switched back to the sewers, "She is already cocooning herself…" Della said.

"And forming an ovarian sack…" Torren said pointing it out.

Just then the door opened again and an android handed the leader a note, "If you will all excuse me there is something I need to take care of…" After excusing himself the leader went to his office before following the android to the secret lab where the cyborg was kept. Xan was laid out on a table unconscious; his head was plugged into a computer.

"What do you want me to do sir?" Doctor Heymen asked.

The leader stood over Xan's body, then he looked at Heymen, "Erase everything and replace his psychological profile with this…"

"But sir…" He objected.

"Do it and leave him in stasis…" Reluctantly he obeyed the leader, "Now leave me…" The leader ordered after he was done. When Heymen left took a small device from his pocket and plugged it into Xan and himself at the same time. "Thank you Xan my future is secure…" He said patting Xan on his face.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12. Parasites

Ripley stood with her back to Call, Johner, Hats, and Sam with her eyes closed. Their inquiries to her well being were ignored as she felt the xenomorph queen lay her first egg.  
"Ripley… Ripley we need to get going; we can't stay here out in the open…" Johner said, but again he was ignored.

When Call placed a hand on Ripley's shoulder she opened her eyes and turned her head towards her with a sadistic smile. Call was taken aback by the facial expression on her face. "It's all over… we are all dead. " Ripley declared.

"Okay Ripley you are freaking me out..." Johner said, "What the hell are you talking about…"

She returned her attention to the horizon of the city, "The package the androids brought here… it was the xenomorphs…"

"That's impossible…" Call said in disbelief.

"What is she talking about?" Sam asked.

"Maybe her wires are crossed…" Hats said.

"Hats shut up…" Call barked. "Ripley are you sure…"

She looked at Call and smiled, "No… no fucking way could they get those things through bio-scan…" Johner said in despair.

"What are yall talking about?"

It was Call who explained to Sam about the incident on the Auriga. "That is some tale…"

"It's true…" Johner said.

"True or not I'm off this crazy train…" Sam broke out in a run heading west.

"No wait…" Johner cried.

"Hey Johner let him go… we have bigger fish to fry…" Hats said.

"Ripley if the xenomorphs are here then we have to find the hive and destroy it before it's too late…" Call said pleading to her humanity, "Ripley…"

Ripley turned in a rage with a snarl on her face and grabbed Call by the neck and hoisted her into the air with one hand, "Why would I want to help a bunch of meat sacks…"

"Let her go Riley,,," Johner tried to intervene but he was thrown to the ground with her free hand and Hats remained where he was.

"This is a dust ball of a planet anyway why not let the xenomorphs wipe it out…"

"Because it's the right thing to do and you are not an animal…" Call replied through clinched teeth, "…you are Ellen Ripley."

Ripley's expression softened, "I know…" but an edge returned to her face and she threw Call to the ground near Johner. "…and in order to stop them I must unleash the monster inside…"

She turned away when her face started to tear up. "Johner take care of Call…"

"Sure no problem…" He said.

"What are you saying…" Call asked.

Ripley just smiled and jumped over the side and into the canal below. They all ran to the edge and looked over the side; she waved for them to leave. "We have to help her…" Call said.

"I know how you feel Call but we have to help ourselves…" Reluctantly Call followed Johner in the direction Sam had gone to an alley where they had hidden there vehicle.

"Hold it right there, put your hands up…" An officer ordered.

"It looks like we found those fugitives everyone is looking for…" His partner said stepping to the first man's side, "Put your hands in the air…"

"Call…" Johner whispered.

"I got this…" She whispered back.

"Hey no talking…"

Call rolled to the ground and punched the man in the gut sending him to the ground his partner shot Call in the chest, but she grabbed his arm and broke it; then she threw him into the car. The first man was about to get up when Hats kneed him in the face and took his gun.  
"So what do we do with them?" Hats asked.

"I say we take their uniforms and dump them in the trunk…" Johner replied.

"What about their locators?"

"We can use a scrambler to block the signal…"

As Johner and Hats got dressed in the uniforms Call looked in the direction Ripley had gone, "Good bye my friend and good look…"

"Call come on let's go…" Johner said. They jumped in the patrol car and drove east to head out of the city.

Sewers beneath the Medical Plaza:

"I hate this job…"

"What's there to hate you're the foremen where the ones with the crappie job…" A group of four men rode a utility vehicle into the sewers in order to check the water mains for the medical plaza because the water only ran hot into the hospitals and they had come to check on it because the AI said the problem had originated there.  
The foremen and his crew jumped out the vehicle and started walking, "Lights…" He ordered.

"Dam what the hell is that smell…" One of the men asked.

"Maybe Jimmy farted…" They all laughed.

"Hey guys knock it off…"

"What the hell?" The wall and pipes was covered with a slimy substance, "What is this shit?" The foremen put his hand on the box monitor and a sticky stringy substance webbed from the wall to all over his fingers. "Hey Walley take a sample of this shit and run it the analyzer…"  
Walley walked up to the wall and took a sample with a suction straw attached to a small device, "Okay boss one sample analyzed coming up…" The box read unidentified, "…Uh boss it says unidentified…"

"What you're not reading it right…"

Walley handed him the meter, "Here check it out…"

The foreman switched the straws out and placed a new one into the meter and the reading came out the same, "What the hell is this shit? You know what fuck it…" He walked up to the main box and pulled the hardened substance off and read the screen, "Ah shit… alright Jimmy get your ass up to section n-forty-three and check the pipes…"

"Yeah… yeah… you know they need to start building androids again then I wouldn't have to do shitty jobs like this…"

"You do shitty jobs like this because its all you're good for…" Walley said.

"Hey knock it off yous guys are giving me a headache…"

It took Jimmy thirty minutes to get to the section and as he traveled the foreign substance got thicker and harder. "Boss come in…" Jimmy said into his shoulder com.

"Yeah go ahead…"

"Uh yeah this stuff is getting harder and thicker the further I go in and its getting hotter down here… are there any gas pipes down here…" There was no response all he got back was static.

The foremen and the rest of his crew never saw the xenomorph crawling across the ceiling it stabbed Jimmy in the leg with it's tail spike as it grabbed the foremen off the ground and stabbed him in the forehead with its second mouth and dropped him to the ground. The third man tried to run, but he was in such a panic he couldn't use his com set. He made a turn down the wrong tunnel and came to a dead end trembling he slowly turned around as a hissing sound came from behind him and he fell to his knees as the xenomorph knocked him unconscious and took him to the hive.

"Hey guys this isn't funny…" Jimmy yelled into his com, "Hey boss… Walley… Jake… Somebody come in…" He switched to channel three. "Base come in…" He swung around because a sound caught his attention he gasped because crawling on the wall were dozens of face huggers, one leapt off the wall and attached to his face; he fell to the ground trying to get the spider looking creature off just as a response came on the com.

"Base here go ahead… Base here go ahead…" The woman at the hospital engineering office checked the locater the green light representing Walley was still green. The light representing the foremen was red she jumped up in her seat. "Alright guys talk to me what is going on down there…" She got out of her chair and walked to the chief's office.

"What's up?" He asked as she stood in his doorway.

"Um… I got a call from Bob's crew, but his locater has gone red… Walley and Jake seem to be heading for the sewer alcove…"

"It might be nothing… send a drone down there and see what happens…"

"Sir I'd like to send a rescue crew down there…"

"Are you shitting me? His locator might be on the fritz… it happens…"

"I don't think so sir company policy has us change them every three months Jake just had his changed... Come on someone could be hurt…"

"Okay send a rescue team… I'm going to regret this…"

When Jake awoke Jimmey had a spider looking creature on his face, but what caught his attention was the huge bug like lizard thing on the ceiling that was laying eggs like a termite or queen bee. The thing was twenty feet tall and attached to the ceiling by a web like substance. He struggled to free himself but he couldn't get louse; then an egg opened up and the creature inside crawled out and leapt at Jake. "No…" He screamed, but the face hugger wrapped its tail around his throat and its legs went over his face.

Walley awoke to find himself partially cocooned and staring at dozens of eggs and a huge bug like creature on the ceiling, "Oh shit I'm not dreaming… I knew I should've stayed home…" He grunted as a sharp pain filled his chest like he was being stabbed from the inside that is when he noticed Jake who was unconscious he tried to call his name but the pain was too intense.

The employee parking lot of the West Helm colonial hospital always had people coming and going; a man was walking to his car not paying attention to the spider like creature following him to his car running from shadow to shadow. The man was on the cell phone and when he opened the car the face hugger got into the vehicle and attached to his face; his car horn blew because his head fell on the wheel.

There was always construction going on at the medical plaza a new hospital was going up or research center. It was six am and the night crew was punching out while the day crew was punching in.

"Alright ladies I want to finish up laying the cement for the parking lot today and the wiring for the ninth floor. So let's get to it…"

As the construction workers went to their assignments a man climbed aboard a loader and started moving the steel beams into position; when he was picking up his fifth beam there was something weird looking crawling on the beam. "Hey guys come and see this it's really freaky looking…"

The construction foremen was going over the blue prints with some crewmen when they heard a loader crash to the ground; about forty workers rushed over to the loader, "What happened?" he asked to another guy who was already trying to get the crewman out.  
"I don't know he was yelling for us to come and see something…"

"Aye carromba what the hell is that…"

The Eddison medical center was the nearest hospital to the construction site so that is where the man was taken.

"Doctor we need a doctor…" The foremen yelled helping the EMTs push the man in on the gurney.

"Good God…" The nurse cried, "What is that?"

"We don't know it came out of nowhere…"

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Sir we need you to stay out here so we can do our job…" The nurse closed the curtain, "…Doctor what is that thing?" She asked standing next to the doctor.

"Your guess is as good as mine…" He said, "…Let's try to get it off… then we'll worry about the rest…" The doctor placed the scalpel on the tail around his neck and cut and when he did the acidic blood melted the scalpel and burned the tip of his index finger, "Ah shit… it burns… its burning…" The nurse ran his finger under the water and the pain subsided, but the acid burned all the way to the bone.

"What is that…" Someone else asked again.

"Uh doctor maybe we should call the SFDA…"

The nurse was about to make the call when the doctor shouted, "Wait look…" The doctor said as the creature fell off the man's face.

"Where… am I…" The construction worker asked waking up, "Oh shit get that thing away from me…" He yelled spotting the now lifeless creature.

"Calm down sir can you tell me what happened…" The doctor said examining the man.

"I don't really know it happened so fast… I was picking up a beam with the forklift and that spider thing was on the beam it jumped on me and… and I passed out… What is that thing Doc?"

"We don't know but we will find out…"

"Doctor we should see about your hand…"

They were about to do just that when the construction worker grunted, "Sir are you alright?" The nurse asked.

"I don't know I felt a… AH!" he screamed again as another sharp pain emanated from his chest. The man started heaving and breathing heavily, he started trashing about and spitting up blood. The nurses and orderlies tried to hold the man down as a large ripping sound filled the air, "Kill me…" The man cried because the pain was so great. Then it happened; a bloody hissing creature burst out of his chest and squealed. The medical people jumped back as the four limbed creature jumped off the man and ran for cover across the floor.

"What the hell was that…" The orderly screamed as the raised voices of alarm could be heard in the emergency waiting area.

["Warning unidentified life form is loose in the hospital… possible bio-hazard emergency lock down in progress…"] Like all hospitals, homes, offices, and ships of the twenty-forth century the Edison medical center was run by an artificial computer and when the system picked up the life form it went into quarantine mode, ["…Please do not attempt to leave the hospital as your locaters have been activated and everyone presently in the hospital is being counted… Now here this we are at red alert until further notice…"] The emergency doors were sealed off by another metal door. All the exits were double locked from the outside; even the widows were sealed and covered by an unbreakable durra steel glass.

"Shit what do we do now…" The orderly asked.

"We find that freaky little what ever it is and kill it…" The Doctor said, "…Nurse have that…" He pointed at the spider looking thing with the tail. "…Taken to the lab and analyzed… You…" He said turning his attention to the orderly, "…Will take this man to the morgue… Move it!" They jumped to obey his orders as the baby xenomorph called through the ventilation system trying to find a way out.

The entire plaza was over seen by the medical business district which was over seen by a clone named Holland Newberry. He was cloned by Medi-Tech International which was a dummy corporation owned by Weyland-Yutani in an elaborate attempt to consolidate all the hospitals into one corporate entity. Holland was Chief Medical Administrator his predecessor was dead and his wife and children had no clue about the clone who was completely obedient to Edward B. Weyland.

His assistant burst into the office, "Sir we have a lock down at Edison…"

He looked up from his file that he was reading, "A lock down… why?"

"Some sort of bio-hazard sir…"

Holland stood up, "Father! Identify source of lock down at the Edison Medical Center…"

A holographic display of the incident in the emergency room appeared and the computer explained, ["Lock down is due too unidentified life form… at oh eight thirty a patient was brought in by the name of Bently Harper… subject had an unidentified life form attached to his face… Doctor Carver tried to remove life form… acid like substance spewed from the life form causing serious damage… A few minutes after life form came off on its own… twenty seconds later subject experienced extreme chest pain… another unidentified life form exited the subjects body through the chest cavity… it is theorized life form was ingested during face attachment by previous life form… At present the Edison Medical Center is on complete lock down due to possible chance of further contamination…"]

"Father do you have a picture of the life forms?"

["One moment please…"] A hologram of a spider looking creature with six legs and a tail appeared; then a hologram of a creature with a bloody body and brown skin.

"Incredible…" Holland declared.

"Sir do you want me to call the SFDA? They should be notified…"

"No I'll take care of it… what I want you to do is discretely evacuate the entire plaza…"

His assistant became dumfounded, "Sir the entire plaza, but…"

"But what… evacuate… go to yellow alert and keep this quiet…" He smiled to reassure her,

"We don't want to start a panic now do we…"

"No sir… I guess not…"

"Good get started and keep it quiet… um have the patients transported to the Atlantic Medical Center…" The Atlantic Medical Center was a floating hospital in the Atlantic Ocean that was built by Center Globe. When Holland's assistant left he called Weyland-Yutani, "Father…"  
["Yes Chief Administrator…"]

"Have the information you told me placed into one file and seal it retina scan only for Edward B. Weyland…"

["Affirmitive…"] As the computer complied with Holland's request a hologram of Edward B. Weyland appeared.

Weyland Yutani Towers:

"I told you not to contact me unless absolutely necessary…" Weyland barked.

"Believe me sir its necessary I am sending a file retina scan only…"

When Weyland received the file he scanned his eye and opened the holographic file in front of him and gasped. "The xenomorphs here…"

"Yes sir we've had nine people brought in to different hospitals three of which is on lock down now…"

"Have you called the SFDA?"

"No sir… but something like this will be hard to keep under raps…"

"Give me twenty minutes then call them…" After Weyland hung up he had his chief of security come to his office and the new head of special projects come to his office; they both arrived at the same time. "Commander Mcvar I want you to take my wife and two children along with my cousin and her family and move them to the Atlantis facility…"

"Has something happened sir…"

"Take a look at this…" Weyland showed them the file Holland sent him.

"Impossible…" Daven Ganley said.

"No ingenious… Anyway I want you to send a bio-containment unit to the medical plaza… see if you can capture a specimen or a host; Ganley I want you to move the Android project to the Atlantis labs as well…"

After agreeing to his orders, both men left the office and Edward Bishop Weyland authorized his company's satellite to do a thermal scan of the medical plaza. There it was the xenomorph hive, the scan he took of the sewer showed a number of two hundred and eleven xenomorphs swarming in the sewer hive; just then his wife and cousin burst into the office.  
"So it's true…" Alexis said entering the office and staring at the hologram.

He sighed, "Yes it's true…" And in a slow monotone voice he explained to them about the androids and what they had done.  
"What are we going to do…" Constance Weyland asked, "…Edward you have to warn our friends and…"

"Constance…" All business sense went out the door when he heard the plea in his wife's voice. "…Even if I wanted to… When the government finds out they are going to get as many people out of the city and nuke it…"

The doors opened again and in came Mcvar, "…Mrs. Weyland …Miss. Yutani your transport is ready…"

Weyland got up placing his arm around his wife and lead her towards the door, "My beautiful wife it's time for you to go…"

"What about you? What are you going to do… you can't stay here" She said pleading. "I will be fine… as soon as I can I will come…"

They walked to the private hoverpad on the roof where a heavily armed transport was waiting along with the two children who were playing tag with each other. Weyland secured his weeping wife on board and then he hugged his cousin Alexis. "Watch over them…" He whispered.

"Be safe…" She whispered back.

As the transport flew over head flying west towards the sea a Weyland-Yutani bio-hazard team arrived at the medical plaza which was being evacuated by hospital personnel. The Edison, Windsor, Delta, and Trinity hospitals were all on lock down and no one was allowed to leave.

"Sir I can see with my own eyes that the plaza is being evacuated… now I'm asking you to lift the quarantine so I can get my people out of here…" The Chief of staff at Edison was yelling at the chief administrator when the holo-projection was lost, "Father what happened to the transmission…" ["Interference by unidentified bio-organism… transmitter has been sabotaged..."]

"Impossible…" He declared as a xenomorph drone dropped out of the ceiling above him and stood on the desk and hissed. "Doctor Reed I…" His assistant walked in and saw the xenomorph stabbing Reed with its second mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs and that is when a face hugger dropped out of the whole made by the xenomorph and jumped at the women and attached to her face.

"Alright we will enter the sewers here…" The team leader of the Weyland Bio-Hazard team said.

"Hey what are you guys doing here…" The assistant to the chief engineer asked.

"Back off lady we are company personnel and we are going into the sewer.

"I don't think so…" She replied showing them her badge.

"Lady I don't care if you're the President's wife we are going…" Ignoring her protests the man unlocked the manhole cover and down into the sewers his men went armed with m-sixty-five hundred pulse riffles gas bombs and auto sentries.

"Bill come in…" The woman said speaking into her com piece.

"Yeah babe go ahead…"

"I got some corporate ass holes about twenty of them going into the sewers… I think they are with Weyland-Yutani…"

"Shit… look I am heading to you the SFDA is here…"

"Get those sentries set up…" The commander of the bio-hazard team yelled. The other men rushed to obey his orders and in five minutes they had the sentries set up under the manhole they had entered the sewers in. Then they started walking in the opposite direction and as they walked the tunnels grew hotter and the walls were covered with a foreign substance that got thicker as they continued on.

"Sir look…" A man yelled, they had come upon the dead body of the foremen and the utility truck. "He was stabbed in the head sir…" The same man said.

"I can see that… you getting anything on the motion detector…"

"No…" The man was cut off as the his locator started to go hay wire, "…Uh I'm getting a huge signal… shit they're all over the place…"

The commander came and stood next to the man, "Blow torches…" He ordered. They started blasting the walls in short burst and that is when the auto-sentries started firing. "Talk to me Locker…"

"Sir the guns are tracking multiple targets…" Locker said looking at his remote scanner, "…they are running back and forth… I think their trying to make the guns run out of ammo…"  
"Fuck the company… lets get back to the surface…" But they never made it because the xenomorphs cut them off and attacked them from the back and front. A few rose up out of the water and in a matter of seconds the battle was over; out of the twenty men only eight survived and they were cocooned right on the spot.

The White House:

Jameson and her assistant were walking up the hall to the oval office with ten marines following them, "Wait here…" She ordered to the marines entering the office. "Sir we have a situation at the medical plaza in Central City New York… Father display file alpha nine dash three delta…"

The AI showed a holographic record of the medical plaza incident for the President. "My God…" was his shocked reaction.

"Holographs has a count of over two hundred xenomorphs…"

The President hit a series of butoons on his desk and a few minutes later a miniature hologram of Admiral Wellington appeared. "Admiral we have a situation…" It took a few minutes for the President to explain what was happening. "I want as many of the people evacuated as possible… then I want you to have the SS Washington to arm for nuclear deployment…"

"Mr. President you want to nuke Central City…"

"Not unless you have another solution for ridding ourselves of these xenomorphs…"

"Would you give me at least two hours to…"

He was interrupted by Jameson, "Admiral my department has run every theory and scenario for this situation… a nuclear option is the only way to go…"

"Admiral you have forty-eight hours to evacuate as many people as possible then I will order the SS Washington to Nuke the city… Has there been any word from Agent Janice in regards to the Ripley clone…"

"No sir no update as of yet…"

"Alright initiate the emergency broadcast alert for New York..."

The signal was activated ordering all citizens to evacuate the city immediately; Admiral Wellington mobilized the air and ground transports of the seventeenth fleet division along with five thousand marines to cover the exit of the transports. The city came to life as people started getting ready to leave the city and the people leaving the medical center were sworn to silence at least the people who new about the bio-hazard incident.

The chief engineer and his assistant along with a representative from the SFDA and several officers entered the chief administrator's office. "What is this…"

"You are under arrest for withholding information on a bio-hazard and illegally making a file on that information… Officer arrest him…" Holland went quietly as he was read his rights.

"Father… this is Denise Chadley of the SFDA authorization code bravo, one, bravo, four, dash eight, six, bravo… override quarantine on those hospitals… and inform the staff and the patients to exit in an orderly fashion…"

["Authorization accepted… quarantine is lifted…"] The AI lifted the quarantine on the hospitals, but it was too late because several xenomorphs were inside those hospitals via the ventilation system which caused the people on the inside to run and scream for the exits and some to smash windows.

"They are inside the hospital…" Chadley said.

"Ma'am they are inside Edison, Windsor, Delta, and Trinity hospitals…" Marines were deployed to the hospitals in order to give the staff and patients a chance to escape. Huge transports landed in the parking lots and loaded up the critical people first then the recovery patients and so on. While the medical plaza was evacuated another bio-hazard team was sent into the sewers; this one was sent by the SFDA in order to try and neutralize the unidentified life forms, but no sooner had they gone into the sewers they had been recalled to the surface. As they attempted to return to the surface they were ambushed by the xenomorphs and dragged to the hive.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13. On the Run

Johner, Call, and Hats had gone two miles when they came across a rode block checking vehicles, so they turned the squad car around and ditched it with the officers still inside.  
"What do we do now?" Call asked.

"I'll tell you what we should do…" Hats said, "…I say we steal us a transport and fly out of here."

"That would be a good idea Hats if the airways weren't filled with military and state hovercraft…"

"So I'd rather fight my way out of this city…"

Johner ignored him, "Hey Call you all right…" He asked looking at the bullet hole in her chest.

"Leave me alone I'm fine…"

"Hey why don't we go through the sewers…" Hats said enthusiastically. "Well that's the first smart thing you've said today…" Johner said as Hats snarled at him.

Call looked at the both of them, "…No it isn't."

Hats smirked, "Look who's trying to crack a joke…"

"It was no joke…"

"Well you sure know how to take the wind out a guys sail…"

"The xenomorphs they like to build their hives in dark places… and they will probably use the tunnels to get around the city…"

"You are probably right Call, but that is on the other side of town I don't think they made it this far yet…" I

t took some convincing on Johner's part but the other two finally agreed and into the sewers they went. Traveling through the sewers allowed the trio to cover a lot of miles in a short time. The smell was tolerable to Johner and Hats; Call wasn't bothered by it at all. They walked for hours and stopped to eat ration bars and drink water via hydro-tablets; then they rested for an hour before continuing on.

"Where are we any way…" Hats asked.

"East side old Harlem…" Call replied, but she suddenly stopped. "…Hold it guys."

"What now…" Hats asked.

"It isn't one of those things is it Call…" Johner asked nervously.

"No I'm hearing com traffic… oh shit Marines… we are being tracked…" They broke out into a run and came to a ladder that lead to a manhole cover they were about to climb the ladder when Hats was shot in the neck by a tranquilizer dart. Quicker than the eye can track Call used her body to shield Johner from the hail of darts flying towards him.

"Go… I'll grab Hats…" she yelled lifting Hats off the sewer ground and placing him on her shoulder. When she reached the top of the ladder Johner was still trying to get the hatch off.

"What's the hold up?"

"It won't budge…" He replied through gritted teeth. She grabbed Hats by the belt and held him with one arm then with all her might Call pushed the manhole cover off and into the street they ran.

"This is unit forty-four to air unit twelve… come in…" A marine said into his head com.

"We read you… go ahead…" Ariel unit twelve was a hover chopper flying over Old Harlem. "Target has gone up top near seventh…"

The pilot swung around to seventh and immediately spotted Johner, Call, and a man being carried by Call, "We have them… they're heading east running in and out between the buildings…"

"We'll never get away with that thing following us…" Johner said taking heavy breaths.

"Here take Hats…" She said removing him from her shoulder, "I'll take care of the hover chopper…"

"Don't kill them…" He said placing Hats' arm over his shoulder, "…We have enough heat on us as is."

"I know I'm just going to ground them… Give me your piece…" When Call accepted Johner's hand gun she broke out into a run.

"They're splitting up…" The pilot said into his head mike. He brought his chopper around following after Johner. When he swung around Call was standing on the roof of a building that the chopper flew by. She leapt from the roof to the chopper and shot up the right hover pad; then with her fist Call punched through the windshield she shot the pilot and copilot in the shoulder and landed the hover chopper. Once on the ground she broke out into a run and rejoined Johner.

"You got some moves…" He said.

"Thanks… he's still out…"

"Yeah I think they hit him with a high dose… Come with me I have an idea…" She said placing Hats over her shoulder.

Johner and Call found a closed store and broke in after disabling the alarm then she placed Hats on the counter and went to the pharmacy while Johner kept watch.

"What's all that for?" He asked as she brought a mixture of stuff and began making a medical cocktail.

"The stuff they hit him with is p-sixty three…" She replied.

"How do you know?"

"We invented it… we as in androids and sold it to the government to make money in order to fund our needs… he will be out for hours unless I make the counter agent…" It took Call three minutes to make the stuff then she injected Hats in the arm and in less than two minutes he started to stir.

"Did I get run over with a truck…"

Call laughed, "No, but a truck would have been more merciful…"

"My head feels like it's going to explode…"

"It will pass…"

Johner walked up to him and slapped him on the shoulder, "You look like shit…"

"Yeah thanks…"

Call grabbed some chips and a bottle of water, "Here eat this it will help…" Johner returned to his post at the front door as Call took the register and her com device along with the holo-camera and started taking apart the register, the camera, and the com.  
"What are doing?" Johner asked looking back in her direction.

"The police department monitors all alarm and holo-cams in the city… so I'm going to hack into the system and misdirect them…"

Hats jumped off the counter and walked over too Call who was attaching the relay box from the camera to the cash register keyboard, "You can do that?" He asked.

"Of course I can…" she replied confidently. When she was done a hologram flickered to life in the air displaying a mini map of the city and the location of all ground and air units and because the military was working with the state as well Call had the location on them as well.

"All units this is Officer Ferris target heading south east back towards the red square district…" Call had altered her voice to sound like the one of the men they left in the trunk of the car.

"Did they fall for it…" Johner asked.

"Yep but not for long we need to go…"

"Yeah, but we can't take your new toy with us…" Hats said.

"Johner toss me your cell phone…" He did and she caught it out of the air and disconnected the register keyboard and hook it to the cell phone. "Okay lets go…" They left the store and headed north east ducking in and out of the alleys and when Call put another false call into the system and sent the police on another wild goose chase only this time she said the xenomorphs were heading to time square.

"Captain you need to take this…" A Detective said at the police plaza.

"What is it?" He asked as a life size hologram of Janice appeared before him. "This is Captain Hall Teller…"

"Captain Teller My name is Agent Janice and your system has been hacked into-the ghost calls you've been receiving are from the very people we've been tracking…"

"That's impossible no one can hack our AI…"

Janice sighed and looked to her right, "Do it…" The lights flickered on and off then the AI spoke and said; ["Nothing is impossible Captain especially since one of the people we are tracking is an android…"]

"Okay you've got my attention… now what?"

"Someone should be arriving soon to debug your system… in the meantime use the old system…"

"Shit…" Call yelled following Johner down an alley.

"What is it?" Johner asked.

"They locked me out the system the jig is up…"

"I think we have bigger problems than that…" Hats said peering around the corner at the cops and marines.

He was joined by Johner and Call, "Shit don't these guys ever give up… I mean aliens are in the city they should be helping with the evacuation not chasing us all over the place…" Johner said.

Hats spit on the ground, "Well I'm tired of running let's give them hell…"

"No…" Call said.

Johner looked at Call then turned his attention to Hats, "She's right Hats… I mean I'm always up for a fight and up until now they've been trying to catch us… if we start fighting back and killing people the gloves may come off…"

"I don't care man I'm tired ducking and dodging if they want me then they are going to take me in a fight…"

Call sighed, "Okay if we are going to fight then shoot to wound not kill…"

The marines and state officers were standing in the street checking vehicles as they passed when Call stood in the rode and threw a gas grenade into the center of the gathered marines and officers. When the grenade exploded all hell broke out as cars started driving off others turned around and went in the other direction and then a few accidents happened. Call broke out into a run and jumped on a car and leapt over five more vehicles and landed in the middle of the marines punching, kicking, and throwing people out of the way. Johner drove by on a motor cycle and started shooting people in the legs with Hats on the back of the bike also shooting. In the confusion several marines accidentally shot several of the officers trying to shot Call. Johner and Hats would drive back and forth throwing gas bombs into the crowd and shooting at the officers and marines. When the fight was over Call disabled all their vehicles and jumped into the last one an armored four by four and drove off with Johner and Hats jumping into the vehicle off the bike.

"We got company…" Call yelled as a hover-chopper followed them from the air.  
A missile was fired from the chopper and exploded seven feet in front of the vehicle; Call slammed on the breaks and turned the wheel and drove down a narrow alley at full speed.

"Dam girl you can drive…" Johner said putting his seat belt on.

She smiled at him as they exited the alley and turned left, but she had to do a one eighty because a group of marines were blocking the rode.  
"Surrender now or we'll open fire…"

Hats opened his door and jumped out then he started running, "Hats… no!" Johner screamed.  
Hats ran into an abandoned building and hid on the second level; he could hear the hover-chopper heading west still chasing Johner and Call and that is when fifty marines burst into the building. Hats ran across the walkway to the other side and hooked his grapple to the ceiling.

"Surrender…" A marine yelled, "…We know your in here, make it easy on yourself."

Hats took three short breaths then he bungeed down the first level and grabbed a marine pulling him back up to the second level. With an elbow to the face and a kick to the knee he took the marine out of the fight and flipped his cap around. "Hoorah…" He yelled switching his new pulse riffle over to flame thrower and setting the main entrance ablaze and the stairway to the second level. Then he showered the floor with fire to divide the marines in half and took cover as they fired at him

The tires on the vehicle had been shot out so Johner and Call had to try to escape on foot; Call decided they would gain more ground on their pursuers if she picked Johner up and carried him. Call had run five miles jostling Johner all the way, she had lost the ground units by three miles running at a speed of sixty five miles per hour and that is when Johner asked her to stop and after another hour they lost the chopper as well.  
"You think Hats is alright…" Call asked.

Johner punched the wall with all his might breaking his hand, "That fool that dam fool…"

Call grabbed his hand and started to wrap it with rags, "If any body can make it on his own… it's Hats."

Johner grunted, "He is a dam idiot…"

"He is a good man… or you wouldn't have suggested him for a membership on the council…"

He looked at her, "And Ripley said for me to take care of you…"

"We are going the wrong way you know heading back to the city…" She said changing the subject.

Johner looked around, "Well maybe we can get lost in the confusion…"

"We need a plan…"

Johner shrugged his shoulders, "…I got it we go to the star port and steel us a star fighter… a two man star fighter and fly out of here…"

Call didn't answer right away, but she stood up and paced back and forth before answering.

"It's risky…" She finally said, "…but doable. What about Hats?"

"I don't want to leave him but what choice do we have…"

"You realize they are going to nuke the city once everyone is evacuated…"

"We better hurry then…"

Johner and Call stole a vehicle and made their way to the star port on the south east side of the city. While they were heading to the star port Hats had killed and defeated the marines in the abandoned building which was on fire. He stole a firemen's uniform which worked for him until he encountered a team of mercenaries five in all. They had come to collect the bounty, but Hats dealt with them in short order. He was heading for the docks in order to steal an underwater surveyor and head for the Atlantic Medical center.

Ripley was crouched on the ledge of a building ten stories high she watched as a mobile armory rolled up the street. At the calculated moment she jumped from the roof and landed on top of the truck. First Ripley cut her wrist again and made a circle on the roof of the vehicle; as the acidic blood melted through the armor the people on the inside banged on the wall for the driver to stop. When he stopped Ripley tackled the man jumping off the roof of the truck; then she killed the second man riding shot gun.

"Hands up…" Ripley ordered to the five men in the back when she opened the door, grateful no one was injured by her blood. Ripley handcuffed the men to each other around a pole and drove off in the truck after attaching the tracking device to a stray dog.

The evacuation of Central City New York was going smoothly, but slowly because citizens weren't told the truth about the evacuation and although it was a mandatory evacuation there were people who refused to leave. Those people were arrested and taken in; the law enforcement of the city was overtaxed because not only were they helping with the evacuation they were also helping the marines search the city for the fugitives, which was no an easy task. The people who knew about the xenomorphs were sworn to secrecy, people from the medical plaza, both the governor and the mayor were aware of the growing danger in the city and when the governor heard about it he resigned from his office packed up his family and took a private shuttle to his suite on the moon. The mayor didn't resign but he did leave his post and that left Janice in charge to coordinate the military and keep city government operating.

Janice operated out of the city emergency bunker which was operated by the AI, one hundred operators and was protected by an automated defense grid; it was also shielded against radiation. Janice had been on-line with the President for the past hour discussing evacuation, the Ripley Clone, and the xenomorphs.

"Father bring up the thermal scans of the sewers beneath the medical plaza…"  
A hologram of the xenomorph hive was outlined in red and the aliens themselves were outlined in black; by now there were over fifteen hundred xenomorphs and the hive extended out a mile in every direction from the plaza and it was growing twelve feet every hour.

"Busy little things aren't they…" Agent Keller said from her side.

She looked at him, "You have a report for me?"

He cleared his throat, "Yes ma'am… uh we lost a unit to Lance 'Hats" Strong… actually they separated… the android is with Johner they had escaped on foot…"

"Is that all…"

"Yes ma'am…" She dismissed him and had a special unit put together in order to get Senator Kingston out of the city.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14. Panic

Order of light base:

"How soon can we broadcast…" The leader asked sitting on a chair in the communications room.

A technician was getting him ready to broadcast over the city holo-net, "We are making some last minute changes to insure they can't track the signal and we are trying to fix the resolution we are receiving from the crawlers…"

The base was buzzing with activity in preparation for the broadcast and prepping the clone lab for production. All the years of plotting and planning had come to this moment and the order would cleanse the human race of it's evil.

"We are ready to transmit in…" The Android counted down from five and sent the signal.

The holo-news had been on all day telling people where to go to be airlifted out of the city and special cases needing medical attention were given public transportation to lift sites. There was a whistling sound as the Androids interrupted the hologram signals and radio transmissions throughout the city.

"Citizens… I am transmitting to you from a secure location." The Leader was outlined in a black silhouette sitting in front of a green screen. All over the city station personnel were hustling to try and filter out the signal that was overriding all holo-channels, satellite transmissions, and radio signals. "The government has lied to you about the reasons they are evacuating the city… and it's not due to some bio-hazard… an alien life form has been unleashed in the sewers beneath the medical plaza…" Some people watching the transmission laughed, while city officials hustled to shut down the transmission down; "…Some of you may be laughing at this moment but after I show you this footage you won't be…" Screens all over the city went black and then an image of the hive beneath the plaza was revealed. "What you are looking at is a live transmission from one of my crawlers in the sewers… the huge creature you are looking at is a xenomorph queen… she is like a termite or ant queen and will lay an unlimited amount of eggs…" The screen switched to an egg opening up, "…and this is what happens when the eggs hatch." People all over the city watched as the spider looking thing with a tail crawled out of the egg and across the ground and jumped on the face of a man cocooned against the wall. "…Don't turn your heads people because this is the good part…" After five minutes the thing came off and it fell to the slime covered floor. A few minutes after that the man started grunting and spitting up blood he whaled and moaned as a creature burst out of his chest. Covered in blood the creature jumped out of his body and scurried across the floor.

"I know what some of you are thinking this is a hoax and cannot be happening, but I assure you it is real… very real and your government will nuke the city when everyone has been evacuated, but that won't help these things are cunning and very intelligent…"

The transmission ended and the city broke out into a panic as people started rushing transports, driving wildly, and doing anything and everything to get out of the city. Within a matter of minutes thirteen accidents happened and many more people were injured trying to swarm the transports, but when a marine fired his gun into the air people became orderly again.

While things were falling apart Janice and the President were coordinating to bring more troops and ships into the city, but for all their efforts things were about to get worse because the xenomorphs were coming out of the sewers and into the streets because the plaza had been completely evacuated. Over five hundred xenomorphs left the sewers in three groups; the first made its way to the underground tram system and there were eight xenomorphs on the ceiling watching the tram run by they took one of the younger drones and stabbed him with their mouths and tails and threw him on the tracks. His acidic blood melted the tracks as another tram was approaching from the opposite direction. When the tram rolled over the xenomorph more blood splattered on the trams wheels melting them and at the same time the tram was derailed throwing people around.

One of the people on the tram was Sam who knew of an old military underground bunker in the city and that is where he was heading. He was thrown on the floor of the tram and stood up as the tram AI instructed everyone to exit through emergency exits. A woman had already got out of the tram and let out a ear splitting scream as hundreds of xenomorphs and face huggers swarmed the tram. The woman was silenced as she hit the floor after the face hugger jumped on her face; she fell backwards and hit her head. The riders on the tram started running and screaming and some people were snatched up as they ran while others were attacked by the face huggers.  
Sam pulled out his plasma riffle and fired killing a xenomorph; its blood splattered on someone and they screamed as his chest and face were burned. Another xenomorph smashed through the window and he shot that one up backing up through the tram; he switched to flame thrower and showered three of the xenomorphs. Sam switched again to grenade and shot towards the front of the tram as he entered a new car. The explosion shattered glass and killed three people who had face huggers attached to their faces and killed four xenomorphs. A face hugger smashed through the glass and latched onto Sam's face he dropped his gun but a man tried to grab the gun but he was stabbed from behind by the tail of a xenomorph. The xenomorphs began cocooning people on the spot and dragging others back to the hive.

The second group was sent to the police plaza, many of the officers had gathered together to here from the chief in regards to what they heard.  
"What you heard and saw concerning those aliens are true…" As he spoke a few officers left shouting things like; 'Forget this shit…'; 'I'm getting out here while I can…';

"Anyone else we are officers of the law… and if you are going to leave then do so… because it's time to separate the men from the boys…" He looked at the faces of the people in front of him before continuing. As he began to speak again two more people took off their badges and left. "I know many of you have families, tend to them first make sure you have made arrangements for them to get out of the city…"

One of the officers raised his hand, "Sir I think we've wasted enough man power chasing those fugitives…"

"I agree put the word out all units are to help with the evacuation…"

The chief dismissed the officers so they could call and make sure their families are being taken care of. "I've had enough of this shit…" an officer said after hanging up with his wife. He grabbed his duffle bag after throwing his badge on the desk and walked to the front doors and when he opened the door a xenomorph was standing right in front of the door. It hissed and stabbed the man in the chest with it's tail spike. The officer was raised into the air and used as a shield against the hail of bullets coming at it. The xenomorph threw the man across the room and it jumped up to the ceiling and crawled across as another smashed through a window and several more xenomorphs came in through the front door. Within the span of six minutes eight officers died and people started running and screaming while some of the officers stayed to fight.

The chief grabbed a shot gun and blew away a xenomorph splattering it's blood on the walls, floor, and chairs. As the xenomorphs swarmed the police station; they were shot up and killed four and five at a time; the police officers fought a loosing battle as they were overwhelmed. An officer was snatched off the floor another was stabbed in the head by the second mouth of a xenomorph. When the chief ran out of bullets he grabbed a pulse riffle and started shooting, but didn't notice the xenomorph sneaking up behind him. His gun jammed and he took out his side arms there were aliens crawling across the ceiling; while there were others stepping over dead officers and policemen with face huggers. They climbed over desks as they backed the chief up towards the xenomorph who was sneaking up behind him; he slowly turned as he heard a hissing sound from behind; when he turned he was stabbed in the head.

"What do you think is going on…" A prisoner asked to another.

"I don't know but…" He was cut off as something dripped on his arm and started burning. "…Ah it burns. What the hell is that shit…" It burned through his arm and it fell off. The ceiling was melted through by the acidic blood of the xenomorphs and one even fell through the roof and landed in front of the prisoner.

"Somebody let us out of here…" Some of them screamed as some of the xenomorphs crawled down the hole in the ceiling or came down the steps. Doors were ripped off hinges and all the prisoners were taken back to the hive.

Ripley drove up the street in her stolen mobile armory towards the city power generator because she knew that is where the third group of xenomorphs were headed, about one hundred and fifty xenomorphs were going to attack the power station and shut down the city and Ripley was going to stop them. When she arrived the station was abandoned and the AI was left in charge of the operations through the automation system.  
Ripley began by planting explosives in the sewers and then she set up the auto sentries around the power station. Then she took the ACAU and placed an auto drive in the system for added fire power because she didn't want to be in the ACAU herself.  
When Ripley was done she unloaded all the plasma guns from the armory and set them up and stood in front of the main entrance to the power station. "Come to mama…" She said out loud.

Some of the auto sentries went off and three explosions could be heard from above ground. Ripley braced herself as a group of fifty xenomorphs came running up the road; she pointed a remote at the armory truck and it went rolling towards the xenomorphs. The truck exploded killing over half the xenomorphs and with a plasma gun in each hand she opened fire and one after the other the remaining xenomorphs went down. Ripley could feel the queen ordering more xenomorphs to the power station; so she waited, but she didn't have to wait long. This time over two hundred xenomorphs stormed the power station; they came up the street directly towards Ripley because they knew about the auto sentries. Ripley took a deep breath and started shooting the aliens let out there hissing cries as they were shot up. When Ripley would run out of ammo she would simply pick up two more plasma riffles off the ground but not before she fired her grenade launchers. With a clicking blast from the m-sixty-five hundred pulse riffle the grenade would explode killing several xenomorphs at once. One xenomorph escaped the fourth blast and tackled Ripley but she slashed the xenomorph across the throat with her nails and shot it twice in the head and while the acid blood burned her clothes her skin remained unharmed. She threw the creature off and rolled over grabbing a new gun and she shot up another before it could reach her. The last fifteen xenomorphs charged her but Ripley jumped thirty feet into the air and fired her grenade at the guns on the ground the explosion set off the grenades in the guns on the ground killing the remaining xenomorphs. With the xenomorphs dead Ripley left the area because military units were on the way.

Command Bunker:

Janice was walking up the hall after a quick coffee break when she was joined by Keller, "Excuse me ma'am… the aliens tried to take out the city power station, but someone and we believe it was the Ripley stopped them…"

She stopped walking to look at him, "Can't you confirm?"

"The cameras in the area were disabled but from what we saw it had to be her…"

She started walking again, "What kind of force do you have protecting the power station…"

"Twenty full units including hover-chopper support… I also have to report ma'am that the police plaza has been hit…"

Janice sighed and placed her hand on the wall, "How many are dead?"

"Over a thousand… we are still counting bodies…"

"Send a copy of your report to the president…" She ordered before entering the command center. When Janice entered the command center it was hectic with people yelling orders back and forth and organizing airlifts out of the city. Janice went to the main communications grid and called the President. "Mr. President I'm sending you a copy of our latest report and I'd like your permission to send bombers to the medical plaza and level it maybe we can take the xenomorphs out like that…"

He sighed, "We already thought of that thing is the sewers are lined with poly-cement the only thing strong enough to bring down the nest is a nuclear explosion… and before you ask we already tried nerve gas the stuff just seem to make them crazy…"

"We are running out of options sir… the xenomorphs are coming up out of the sewers and people are panicking…"

"The blast won't destroy the entire city, but it will cause significant radiation… just do the best you can and when the people have been evacuated out of the affected areas we will launch…"

She agreed and broke communication and received a report from the general about needing more scanners to check people and make sure they weren't infected with any alien embryos.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15. The Hive

The xenomorph queen was now twenty-five feet tall and weighed over 200 lbs and she was still growing. The accelerator had been passed from her to her offspring and she was laying over a fifty eggs every hour. When an egg was laid it was taken by a drone to another part of the hive or an already hatched egg was used in expanding the hive which now spread beyond the medical plaza six blocks in every direction. The face huggers were crawling all over the sewers looking for an unsuspecting victim to impregnate. There were over five thousand xenomorphs now and five times that many eggs and the hive was growing in every direction ten feet every five hours.

The androids were helping the xenomorphs by sending them clones or reprogramming automated buses and ground transports to bring the passengers towards the medical center or near it. A few androids would take the place of the pilots and purposely bring the transport to the xenomorph territory. A transport carrying over two thousand men women and children landed in the parking lot of the medical plaza the pilot was an android and as the ship was landing he ejected from the transport.  
The side door automatically opened, "Where the hell are we?" A business man asked.

"Shit we are in the medical plaza… where those things are…" someone else stated

"We have to get out of here…" The business man said.

A little girl was crying, "Mommy I'm scared…"

The girl's mother was holding her, "Its okay baby…"

"Does anyone know how to fly a transport…" Someone yelled.

A man raised his hand, "I do…" A fifty year old man yelled. "I retired five months ago… but I still got it…"

"Okay everyone we are getting out of here… get back on the transport so we can leave…"

The man giving orders pulled ten guys on the side, "I need you gentlemen to man those guns… just in case…"

"I've never shot a gun in my life…" One man said and three others said the same thing.

"It's easy just point and shoot…"

The shuttle was being watched by a scout who sent out a low hiss along with a mental image and in a few seconds the shuttle was surrounded by hundreds of xenomorphs hiding in the shadows.

"What's wrong…" The man asked the fifty year old.

He looked at him, "That son of a bitch sabotaged the controls I can't take off… you better ask if there is a technician among the people in the back…"

He was about to do that when the motion detector on the control panel went off, "What… what is that?"

He slowly turned his head to the man and said in a slow monotone voice, "That is the motion detector… those things are coming…"

As the words left his mouth the men on the mounted guns started shooting at the xenomorphs who were running back and forth in order to make them run out of ammo. An alien jumped onto the glass of the cockpit and with its tail it broke through the glass and killed the old man in the pilots chair then it killed the second man. The same xenomorph climbed back out and over the hall and it killed the men manning the guns. When it was over the survivors were taken to the hive for cocooning and soon as they were cocooned face huggers impregnated them and a few minutes after that baby xenomorphs burst out of their chests.

Command Bunker:

"Ma'am I have some disturbing news…" Keller said standing in the door of Janice's office.

"What is it…" She had been reading the latest report on the alien's movement.

Keller took a few steps into the office, "Several transports have been flown towards the medical district… the pilots ejected before the ships landed… city cam caught it three times and a few of the automated ships were reprogrammed to do the same… we believe the androids are behind this…"

"Great… I want all pilots scanned before they leave…"

Keller interrupted her, "One more thing ma'am holo-com says that a huge group of xenomorphs is heading to the main lift off site… May I recommend we take those people to the star port and set up a defensive perimeter around the main entrance and all underground tunnels…"

"Good thinking Agent Keller make it happen and send in both air and ground units to intercept the aliens…"

"Yes ma'am…"

Time Square:

The units sent to time square which is where shuttles were taking off arrived and set up a defensive perimeter around the assembly area. The commanding officer stood on the roof of a transport and using a bull horn she spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen if I can have your attention for a few seconds…" It grew quiet as everyone gathered turned their attention to her, "Thank you… we are trying to evacuate you as quickly as possible… we are going to load these two transports to capacity and everyone else will be getting back on the buses where you will be taken to the star port for lift off…" A few people asked why were they being taken to the star port, "…The star port is more secure and we have four fully manned fleet divisions at the star port to provide better protection… thank you that is all…"

With those reassuring words from the commander the gathered citizens quickly loaded the two transports and the buses, but the xenomorphs movement towards the main lift off point was a ruse.

The xenomorphs were actually going to attack another lift off site three blocks from the warehouse district. To get to the site the xenomorphs avoided or destroyed any holo-cams in their way. When a group of over three hundred xenomorphs arrived a shuttle was just taking off. They broke up into groups and one group took out the remaining three transports; the second and third groups attacked the crowd and marines. A woman let out a blood chilling scream when she turned around to stare in the face of a xenomorph. One xenomorph was torn apart by the gun fire from an m-zero-mini-gun, but the man shooting the gun was stabbed from behind with the tail spike of a xenomorph.

Pandemonium broke out as people started running for their lives all five thousand of them; the marines and police tried to keep order but it was difficult to do. Within an hour the officers and marines were dead and the screaming running citizens were rounded up.

A family of five was hiding in a bank behind the teller counter the father held his wife while she held the children. A xenomorph crawled on the wall behind them unnoticed by the adults but a little girl turned her head and screamed when she saw the creature. The father lead his family to the vault but another xenomorph came smashing through the glass door and cut them off.  
The family along with everyone else was taken back towards the hive and cocooned every twenty minutes a xenomorph or group of them would return to the hive with a host; two and five occasionally nine hosts. A group of two hundred xenomorphs returned with seventy-three hosts for the hive and they even started bringing in dogs, cat's, and animals from the zoo like gorillas, chimpanzees, a lion or two, and a few bears. The results of animals serving as hosts for the parasitic embryos varied, but they still maintained the same body type of the xenomorphs. The sun was setting and the hour was nearing when the President would order the nuclear strike soon.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16. The Hunters

Part 1. Friend or Foe

The seventeenth fleet division was in orbit of earth still maintaining its vigil in protection of earth. The crew members of each ship wanted to help but all they could do was watch the chaos unfold in the city and wait out the count down. In command of the seventeenth fleet division was fleet division Admiral Jordan Dale. Dale was a hard nose man who ran a tight watch in regards to his fleet administrator duties.

He was well respected among his superiors, his subordinates, and his military tactics and theory scores were record breaking. Dale and the entire fleet watched the chaos unfold unable to help because of standing orders. The fleet did send all of its ground units and transports to help with the evacuation, but many believed it was not enough. Then the SS Washington, which was the flagship of the seventeenth was on standby with orders to fire on the medical plaza with a nuclear missile; it was the fifth hour of the count down with fifty-seven minutes to launch.

The ops officer was scanning sector six of his scan grid when he picked up a spatial anomaly on his scanner, "Um admiral sir you better come look at this…"

Both Admiral Dale and Captain Green walked over to the station, "What is it Commander?" Admiral Dale asked.

"Sir at nineteen hundred five minutes I picked up a spatial anomaly… and a huge electro magnetic signature moving in unison… about three quarters of a mile and closing…"

The captain pointed at the screen, "...Look there it is again."

The ops officer put the calculations into his computer, "Sir I placed the position of the first time when the anomaly appeared against the second time and the calculated speed is consistent with a ship running at attack speed…"

Dale turned to face the main view screen, "Put it on main viewer and copy all this to the President, the General Secretary, and Admiral Wellington… Copy this to all fleet captains as well…"

"Aye sir…" The ops officer replied obeying his orders.

"All stations go to red alert…"

As the SS Washington went to red alert all fighters got to their ships and all weapons were armed. The rest of the fleet followed suit and all fighters had been launched.

"There it is again…" The navigator yelled pointing.

"Open all broadcast channels…" The com officer obeyed and signaled Dale with a thumbs up.

"…Unidentified ship your attempt to sneak in was unsuccessful we demand you show yourselves and state your business…"

A purring growl came over the com then the main view screen was flashed by a white blue light and the bridge of the SS Washington vanished in a huge explosion. The SS Washington went plowing out of control with a huge fiery smoke trail billowing out from where the bridge was.

Moon Station:

The command center in the moon station went into an uproar and some people stood in disbelief as they watched the Washington plow forward into space without a bridge.

"The Washington is down I repeat the Washington is down…" A man yelled into his headset.

"Get all fighters in the air immediately…" A woman screamed into her headset.

Chaos now ruled the moon station command center, as the director of moon base operations ordered the gate way station to evacuate.

"Commander look!" A man yelled as the unseen camouflaged ship fired two plasma beams one at the Montana a warship and the second at the SS Hammerhead a battle cruiser. The Hammerhead was split in two by the plasma beam and the Montana was completely destroyed.

Pentagon Building:

The same thing was happening in the situation room inside the pentagon; the operators and commanders watched helplessly as five star fighters went down. A woman stood with her hand over her mouth as the people on the gate way station evacuated in escape pods.

"Somebody talk to me…" Admiral Wellington yelled entering the room.

"Admiral on deck…" A man said saluting and then he showed Wellington the footage they received from moon station.

The admiral walked up to the main viewer which had a split showing what was happening now and the initial attack. "Someone get me the President and find the General Secretary…"

"Right here…" He said entering the command center.

Together they watched as the fleet made some desperate maneuvers to evade the unseen attacking ship but it was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Sir I have the President online…"

A life size hologram of the President appeared, "Mr. President… the hunters are here…"

He sighed, "I know Tom…" He took a deep breath, "…Tell moon base to stand down… do not launch any fighters…"

"But sir…"

He interrupted him, "If we launch those fighters we are just going to make a bad situation worse… the planetary defense grid is up and running, but for now lets see what they do…"

Earth's orbit The SS Pheonix:

Captain Hal Baker took command of the fleet, "All right tell the remaining warships and the blockade runners to form a phalanx overlapping fire… lets go old school on their asses…"

Of the ships remaining of the twenty five star ships were four battle cruisers including the Phoenix, four warships, five blockade runners, and three destroyers. The ships formed a line with the blockade runners taking lead and warships back and above so that the runners wouldn't get hit and they opened up fire, but hit nothing as they plowed forward.

Hunter's Ship:

The operator aboard the humanoid ship, targeted five ships at once and fired both plasma bolts and beams. Of the ships in the phalanx only four remained and one that was badly damaged. The operator targeted four ships this time and all four vanished from the screen. Then with a satisfying growl the operator took his ship and climbed then he dived towards the rest of the fleet.

The Phoenix:

"Do you have my calculations... talk to me Lt." Captain Baker yelled.

"Aye sir I got it…"

Baker started walking towards the tactical station, "Feed your calculations into the weapons terminal…" He placed a hand on the gunners shoulder, "…Excuse me commander I will handle this." He brought down the scope and looked into it. "Alright all gunners follow my lead… where are you ugly fuckers…" The silhouette of a strange ship appeared in his scope view, "All gunners fire at one point nine five four.

The remaining ships fired wildly at the coordinates and a few rounds struck a metal object that flashed and spark along a bulky hall. Then the flashing electrical current took shape and resolved into an alien ship.

"Fire all missiles…" Baker yelled into his head set.

The alien ship fired it's plasma beams and destroyed several missiles, the ones it didn't destroy it out ran leading the over twenty missiles back to the ships that fired them.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Baker screamed.

As the humanoid ship passed through what was left of the fleet several ships were badly damaged in the onslaught, two were completely destroyed.  
"Bring us about find her…"

The ops officer swiveled in his chair, "Captain she's gone again… she's cloaked, vanished or whatever they call it…"

"Scan for the magnetic signature…"

The hunter's ship looped around and came up behind the Phoenix and fired a plasma bolt into it's ion engine. The Phoenix exploded along its entire length and was completely destroyed. Now there were only three ships left a blockade runner and two battle cruisers.

"Shut down all systems…" The captain aboard the runner ordered.

"But sir…"

"Do it… and launch all escape pods, but transfer life support signatures to the pods…" (And lets hope those animals fall for it…") The Captain thought to himself.

"Captain…" the ops officer whispered. "…Unknown is fifty clicks to port… she is targeting the Harbinger and the Destiny sir."

The Captain raised his hand, "Now…" He screamed. Boar's Tooth powered up all systems and was getting ready to fire. The operator on board the hunter's ship targeted them in the last minute and fired six plasma bolts; four forward and took down the Harbinger and the Destiny; it fired the two last bolts from the rear of the ship, all three ships blew up at the same time and it was over.

Pentagon:

"Do you still want to go to war with them… General Secretary?" All he could do was look at Wellington.

"Copy that…" An operator turned in his chair, "…Sir the Russians are launching two Siberian class destroyers… they are launching hot…"

"Idiots what in the hell do they think they can do… the humanoids just took down an entire fleet division… get me the President."

Humanoid Clan Ship:

The operator was scanning the surface of the moon when he noticed the two ships rising from the surface of the planet. He brought his ship about and targeted the two ships. He roared as he fired six plasma bolts at the oncoming vessels. The first ship was struck in the side as the first plasma bolt splattered across the hall electrifying the entire ship the second bolt blew a large hole in the hall and the last bolt hit the main engine drive and the ship went plummeting into the ocean that lie between Alaska and Russia. The second ship was hit twice and crippled because the third bolt hit the water as the second destroyer went crashing into the Alaskan timber line and exploded.

Pentagon:

"Tell the Russians they can send a salvage crew for the ship that fell in the ocean and that we are sending a recovery team to search for survivors, but under no circumstance are they to enter our air space…" The General Secretary said.

Humanoid Clan Ship:

The operator swung his ship around and plowed through the debris field and after a short scan he found nothing. He then scanned the planet surface and purred because the planetary defense system was on; he targeted one of the defense satellites and shot a miniature pyramid shaped device at the satellite and with it he began taking control of earth's defenses.

Pentagon:

The main view screen and every station in the command center flashed with red alien symbols.

"What the hell are they doing?" The General Secretary asked taking a few steps forward.

"Sir SAC-COM says that the humanoids are hacking the system… the entire defensive grid…"

"They've also taken control of global communications…"

The General and the Admiral exchanged glances and that is when an image of an alien with four mandibles appeared on the screen. It had a greenish skin with black spots here and there. Its head was filled with appendages.

"That is one ugly mother fucker…" Someone said.

"Knock it off son we don't want to offend it… My name is…"

"Do not interfere…" The humanoid said in gurgling voice and the screen went back to the alien symbols that were running up and down the screen.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean…" An operator asked.

"Just what he said don't interfere…" The Admiral replied walking over to a com station. "Do we have communications?"

"Yes sir… but I believe they are listening in on all earth communications they haven't shut down the system but they are listening…"

"Get me the President…"

Clan Ship:

The humanoid operator brought the ship to a stationary orbit and began scanning the planet surface. He immediately found the xenomorph hive and reported to the clan lord. After reporting to the clan lord the operator stood and left the bridge and as he did another humanoid took His place at the helm. With his mask in hand the operator went to a smaller ship and when he entered the ship all the systems came on. In another part of the ship fourteen hunters were preparing to shuttle down to the planet. They were in the armory getting ready; two humanoids pulled arm guns off the wall. The arm guns were bigger versions of the shoulder cannons and fit over the arm up to the elbow and like the shoulder cannons they plugged into the face mask. One hunter armed himself with blades of all kinds from shuirikens to knives, he also took a maul and two dart balls. Dart balls were two inch spikes held together by a magnet; the spikes interlocked with each other and when the magnet was switched off the user had five seconds to throw it. This hunter practiced the old ways of the blade hunter and didn't use projectile energy weapons. He also armed his wrist gauntlet with two nets.

The clan lord's son was leading the hunt; his mask was half bone half metal and the eye lenses could cover the eyes or retract back into the mask; the mask also had a mark of the clan emblem on it. He armed himself with eight shurikens; his shoulder cannon one dart ball, a bolo, his combstick, a maul, and his blade whip. The hunters had two types of hunting dogs the ones they used on human pray and another they used for the xenomorphs, they took eight hunting dogs in all and loaded onto the transport. Once on board the operator powered up the ship and it detached from the larger vessel and flew down through the atmosphere, it circled the city once. The operator scanned the terrain and adjacent cities to make sure that none of the xenomorphs had gotten outside the city; then the clan ship launched fifty thousand satellites. The satellites were one centimeter in circumference and they all had a red optical eye and crevasses that glowed red. The satellites spread out evenly in a circle five thousand feet over the city and when they were in place arms extended out from ports on the sides of the satellite; the arms connected and locked to each other. Underneath the arms were small crystals an inch apart. When the ring was completed another satellite shot from the clan ship remotely controlled from the smaller ship by the operator; it was over two centimeters in circumference. The satellite floated to the center of the ring and extended four arms and connected to four satellites. Once the x-ring was completed the operator activated it and from the small glass domes beneath the ring that was an inch apart; lasers shot from the ring encasing the entire city. When the laser grid was up and running the camouflaged shuttle landed in central park.

"Pull up… pull up…" A pilot yelled into his head set, but it was too late because the transport was caught in the lasers, cut into eight pieces and exploded killing over twelve hundred people on board.

It was a caravan of both ground and air units trying to get out of the city; on the ground the driver jumped out of the transport as his vehicle passed through the laser grid it blew up killing over fifty people.  
"Uh… base one come in…" The commanding officer said into his headset.

Base one:

Base one was the bunker Janice operated from and it was she who answered the commander, "Commander this is base one and we see the laser grid… you are ordered to return to the star port…"

"Copy that Commander Travis out…"

Agent Keller walked across the command center and whispered into her ear, "The President is on line…"

"Put him on…"

A life size holographic image of the President was projected into the room, "The Hunters are here…"

"Yes sir… we see it… it seems to be coming from a ring over the city…"  
The President sighed, "Janice secure as many people at the star port as possible and don't intervene with the hunters or get in their way… I believe they are here for the xenomorphs…"

Janice had her own plans, "I agree sir…" When the President's image faded she turned her attention to Keller, "Get me Kernel Lock…"

Order of Light Base:

Torren ran up the hall to the Leader's office and burst in, "Sir the hunters are here…"

When the words left his mouth the Leader stood up, "Are you sure…" He asked.

"Yes sir… we've been monitoring military transmissions ever since we released the xenomorphs…"

"Prepare the ship for departure and have Doctor Hymen prepare to leave…"

"What about the council?"

"We are the bait…" He replied. "So the ship can get away to the second base…"

Central Park:

The hunters had landed in central park and set up a base camp; then they sent out sky drones to map out the city. The sky drones sent holographic images of the city and the location on humans, both combatant and non-combatant; it also gave the location on the xenomorphs and mapped their hive. When the hunters received their maps the clan lord's son divided them into two groups of seven. He led the first group whose mission was to take down the hive; the second group was led by a slender hunter with a right chest plate and neck guard his entire right arm was armored and his mask had one long visor instead of eye slots and their mission was to search the city for any xenomorphs that might be out in the city or infected humans. Each group had four hunting dogs that went with them, the first group went north and the second went south.

Many places in the city were outside the blast zone, but since the xenomorphs destroyed the fleet those people were cut off especially with more and more xenomorphs were coming out of the hive. Marines and police were fighting a desperate battle against a never ending swarm of xenomorphs coming at them from all sides.

"Somebody come in… come in… we need back up; we need back up…" A soldier screamed into his headset as he fired his pulse riffle into the oncoming wave of aliens; while the citizens ran into a building for protection

A marine inside of an ACAU was adding his fire power to the hail storm of gunfire being directed at the xenomorphs, but three xenomorphs broke through and tackled the ACAU and knocked it over. They tried to crack open the machine but several marines and police were able to shoot the three xenomorphs. The man inside screamed at the top of his lungs as the acid blood melted through the ACAU and burned him.

"Where are my rockets…" The commander said screaming into his headset.

The men he was talking to were armed with rocket launchers and heading up the stairway to the roof, "We will be there in three minutes sir…"

"We don't have three minutes…"

When the marines opened the door to the roof the first man was stabbed in the chest by a camouflaged blade of a hunter. "What the fuck…" The second soldier was grabbed by the throat and his neck was snapped. The hunter was armed with an arm gun he walked to the ledge and pointed his gun into the swarm of xenomorphs charging the humans. He aimed and fired; the sound was that of a synthesized whip being cracked. The blue ball of crackling blue plasma energy hit the ground killing hundreds of xenomorphs. The explosion threw some men to the ground; turned cars on the side; blew out windows and left a crater in the street that went into the sewers.

"Yeah… yeah that's what I'm talking about…" Someone yelled.

"What the hell did they shoot…" The commander asked. "Hey Duke… Johnny come in… come in…" They didn't answer as a second blast was fired from the roof scattering the xenomorphs.

"Hey Don look out!" A man yelled.

Don was a marine and when his name was yelled he turned just in time to see a xenomorph running at him, his gun was empty and he tried to load a new clip but he fumbled trying to get it in; the xenomorph jumped at him and was impaled on something that sparked and shimmered in and out of sight.

The sparks became an electrical current that streamed along a spear like weapon. A clawed inhuman hand held it as the current of electricity resolved into a humanoid. It was as if time stood still with the soldiers looking at the alien humanoid. The impaled xenomorph grabbed the combstick and looked up into the masked face of the xenomorph; it hissed at the hunter who growled back and unsheathed his wrist blades and cut the xenomorph's head off.

"Contact!" Someone screamed shooting at the humanoid, but he only got a few rounds off when he was stabbed from behind by another camouflaged hunter; who raised the man over his head and ripped him in half at the torso; blood splattered on his silhouette form. He became visible as he tossed his legs left and his torso right.

The remaining hunters materialized and began adding their shoulder cannon fire to the fight. Three hunters fought the xenomorphs while the rest disarmed the humans. The lead hunter threw a dart ball into a group of charging xenomorphs killing three and wounding the rest; when one of the wounded xenomorphs tried to get away he was tackled by a hunting dog. As they tussled another xenomorph tried to intervene but he was targeted by the lead Hunter who blasted it apart. The hunting dog was stabbed in the side by the xenomorph and thrown at the feet of the lead hunter; who targeted the xenomorph and blew it's head off. In that time the first hunter that appeared had blown away five more xenomorphs and threw a shuriken at another killing it, but he was tackled from behind and stabbed by a tail spike. The xenomorph that killed the first hunter saw a light beamed at it and with the hunter still attached to its tail he put the hunter in the path of the of the plasma bolt. The dead hunter's body was blown in half and the xenomorph hissed a victory, but it was short lived as he was tackled by another hunting dog. They tussled back and forth, but the xenomorph picked up the dog like creature and threw it through a shattered window of a store.

The xenomorph went into the store after it, while another charged the hunter that made the shot. He uncoiled a bolo twirled it and threw it; the rope and balls wrapped around the xenomorph and when the balls came together they blew up killing two more in the blast and sending two more to the ground. The stunned xenomorphs tried to get up, but they were stabbed by two long blades from the blade hunter. Who removed two shurikens from his belt and threw them as they flew through the air the disks unsheathed their blades and killed two more. The blade hunter stood to his full height as two more xenomorphs charged him from behind; he twirled his blades pointing the blades behind him and stabbed the two drones in the gut. He took his maul and spun around beheading both of them. A third xenomorph tried to attack him but he shot a net from his gauntlet and then threw his combstick into the xenomorph. Because of the hunter on the roof of the twenty-five story building firing his arm gun the xenomorphs began retreating. The hunters on the ground began mopping up the stragglers and gathering the humans into the lobby of the building.

The hunting dog came out of the store dragging the body of a xenomorph; with the battle over the hunters had lost two hunters and one hunting dog.

"What the hell are they…" A marine asked as he sat among the humans who had been gathered up in the lobby of the building.

"I don't know… intergalactic football players or something…" A policeman answered.  
A young hunter stood guard over some five hundred humans along with a hunting dog at his side. The other hunters stood in a group of three talking in there alien language and looking at holograms of the city.

"Hey guys there are only four of them if enough of us rush them we can take them down…" As the man spoke the hunting dog looked at the hunter with a whimpering sound, but the hunter just stared at them from behind his mask.

"I wouldn't say that too loud they can understand English and speak it…"

"And how do you know that Lt.?" A marine asked.

"I know because I was assigned to the Exocron, but I got transferred at the last minute… we call them the hunters because they like to hunt humans and make trophies of our skulls…" When the lieutenant said that a couple of people took a look at the three skulls on the hunter's shoulder attached to wooden pikes. "…sometimes we refer to them as humanoids …they've been visiting earth for several millennium hunting us like prey… you see those arm bands on their left arms there bombs with enough explosive power to destroy several city blocks… half us would be dead before we got close enough to kill any of them and if we succeeded they'd just turn on the bomb…"

"What about those serpent things…" A man asked.

"Some believe that the hunters created them… they originated on LV-426 and were found in a derelict ship… we don't know where they came from, but there is evidence that the hunters have tangoed with the xenomorphs before… since they haven't killed us I would theorize that they are trying to stop the xenomorphs…" he looked at the commander and the other soldiers, "…So I'd just sit still and stay out of their way."

"If they can speak English someone should try to speak with them…"

"You volunteering…" A policeman asked.

"Please can we talk about something else…" A woman said holding her son.

A man coughed, "Hey buddy you alright…" As a marine checked on the man the hunter standing watch scanned the man in x-ray and found a chest buster inside getting ready to break out. He growled and swung his head to his comrades and said something intangible pointing at the coughing man. The lead hunter walked passed the guard and into the screaming people; he grabbed the man up with one hand and took him to the desk.

"Hey…" A marine yelled standing up, but the hunter guard unsheathed his wrist blades and aimed a targeting light from his mask at him. The marine held his hands out and slowly sat back down.

The man was thrown on the reception desk and held down by another hunter, the lead hunter took out his dagger and plunged it into the man carving open his chest; as he did this mothers and fathers shielded their children's eyes from the horrible sight. He reached his hand into the man's chest and pulled a screaming chest buster out. He placed the baby xenomorph into a glass box that filled with a white foam after he pressed a button on the box; when the foam cleared the xenomorph was frozen. He handed the box to another hunter who left to bring it to the shuttle.

"Mommy my chest hurts…" a seven year old girl said coughing.

The mother held her closer, but the lead hunter heard what was said and scanned the little girl she had one inside her as well and it was ready to come out. He walked back towards the group and up to the woman and snatched the girl out of her hands. The mother pleaded to the hunter for her daughter but her words fell on def ears. The marines and police watched helplessly as the girl was sat on the reception desk; she cried even louder as another hunter held the girl. The mother closed her eyes as the humanoid lizard looking thing reached to his side, but instead of pulling the dagger he removed a silver looking box from his belt that opened with a slight touch. He removed a needle attached to a gun looking device and inserted a sliver of glass filled with yellow liquid and injected it into the girl's chest and she yelled for her mother even louder. The lead hunter x-rayed the girl and watched the liquid take immediate effect. The substance surrounded the embryo and the girl started coughing and spitting up blood; she heaved over the side and the embryo came out through her mouth and onto the floor in a pool of blood and a yellow substance. He scooped her up into his arms and carried the girl back to her mother. As the woman stood to accept her child one of the soldiers stood and checked her.

"She's alive, but unconscious…" He said.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and as the woman took a seat she mouthed thank you to the hunter who nodded to the woman. The rest of the humans were scanned for infection, but no one else was impregnated. He returned to the other hunters and a course of action was decided; the three remaining hunters would search the city for any more xenomorphs while the hunter on the roof and the guard would remain behind with a hunting dog. The two remaining hunting dogs would hunt for embryos and infected humans, through his arm band he communicated with the hunter on the roof and then they left.

"Now what?" A man asked when the hunters left the building.

"Now we wait…" The lieutenant said.

Twenty minutes had passed when a bang and whistle filled the air and then a huge explosion shook the building. "I can't take this shit anymore…" A civilian man said. He jumped up and tried to run for the stairs but the hunter aimed at his back and he shot him killing the man. Then the hunter pulled a shuriken from his belt' he unsheathed the blades of the disk staring up at the ceiling of the lobby. Then he threw the shuriken up and a few seconds later a xenomorph crashed through the ceiling as the weapon returned to his hand. The hunter removed a silver kit from his back and opened it; he removed four small dome like devices and evenly placed them around the five hundred humans then he placed a fifth on the ceiling. When he was done he flipped up his arm band and activated the domes which were connected by cords similar to the ones connecting the satellites; a laser grid now surrounded the humans. The hunter ordered the hunting dog to stay and he ran outside as another explosion shook the building.

The hunter on the roof was firing at xenomorphs entering an adjacent building; he x-rayed the building and found over one hundred xenomorphs making their way to the catwalk that connected to the building. He aimed at the catwalk and blew it up; then he scanned the building for structural weaknesses and fired three plasma bolts collapsing the fifty story building and killing the xenomorphs inside. The hunter turned down the power on his arm gun and targeted the rubble; he fired the blast splattered across the rubble electrifying anything that may still be alive. Then he removed a glass tube of blue liquid from his belt, attached it to the end of arm cannon and fired on the rubble. The liquid dissolved any dead xenomorph bodies inside the rubble; he scanned the other buildings for the aliens and found none checking all four corners of the roof. Then he scanned the sewers and found a group of fifty running through the sewers so he contacted the other hunter on the ground.

The hunter dog on the inside sat on his hind legs watching the group of humans behind the laser grid. A noise caused the dog like creature to stand up on all fours. Then a xenomorph came smashing through the glass over the door and walked on all fours towards the hunter dog. It hissed at the hunter dog and the dog replied with a growl; they circled each other and when they stopped, the xenomorph jumped at the hunter dog who allowed the xenomorph to tackle it. The humans watched as the hunter dog flipped the xenomorph into the laser grid and was diced into huge chunks; the acid blood didn't hit anyone because the body parts burned against the laser.

A facehugger crawled across the floor; the hunter dog growled and flipped bone cartilage over its mouth and stabbed the thing to death. Another hour passed before the hunter returned to the humans, he was dragging a hybrid xenomorph a lion-alien. He looked at the dead xenomorph and facehugger, patting the hunter dog on the head and gave him a piece of meat to nibble on. He looked at the humans who were passing around rations to each other and he went to the downstairs cafeteria and bought back a vending machine with trays of food on the side. He lowered the laser grid and pointed at several of the soldiers who took his meaning and grabbed the food; once they were done he switched the laser grid back on and knelt beside the hybrid. He took his blade and cut off the creatures head then he began cleaning all the flesh from around it until all that was left was the skull. The humans watched as he carved alien symbols into the skull and set it on a spike on his shoulder.

The lieutenant looked at several of the soldiers, "That is what he would have done to us if he

were hunting us…"

Back on the roof the hunter was eating himself when he spotted a hover chopper coming towards him. He switched on his camouflage and vanished; he scanned the ship and listened to people on board.

"Look at that shit…" The pilot said.

"It's a freaking war zone down there…" The copilot said.

"Hey guys… I'm picking up a huge locator signal inside the building and some kind of energy signal…"

The energy signal they were picking up was coming from the laser grid protecting the humans. The hunter flipped up his control pad on his gun and sent out a signal to jam the locators; then he targeted the chopper.

"I lost the signal…" The tech officer said.

A red light of three dots was shinning into the cockpit, "What the hell…"

The Chopper was blown up and then the hunter switched off his camouflage and walked his perimeter while eating a piece of meat.

Part 2 Hunting Party:

The clan lord's son lead his group towards the medical plaza where the queen was and the hive. He came up to a man hole cover that had a slimy residue on it; he lifted the cover and all seven hunters entered the sewers with the four hunting dogs. When they entered the sewers the walls were covered with the hardened secretions of the xenomorphs. He opened his wrist pad and ordered several drones to their position; when the drones arrived they flew through the hive searching the tunnels and giving the hunting party a lay out of the hive. He took a holographic scan of the sewers and assigned each hunter a section to close off.

Within two minutes of separating the clan lord's son encountered a group of ten xenomorphs; he removed a dart ball from his belt and threw it into the group killing one and wounding the rest. Another group off twelve xenomorphs tried to attack him from behind but he aimed at one blowing it apart then he removed two devices from his belt one was a sonic emitter that he threw and it released a signal that attacked the mental communications of the xenomorphs. They couldn't communicate with each other or the queen; the second device was a laser trap; five of the xenomorphs died diced up in the lasers as they were thrashing about. The rest of the xenomorphs went running back the way they came in order to escape the sonic emitter. The hunter targeted one of the xenomorphs and blew his head off; then he went running up the tunnel after them. When the xenomorphs were out of range of the emitter they turned to fight. One of them was netted by prince hunter and then he threw his combstick to finish it off; he removed two shurikens from his belt and unsheathed the blades and threw them killing another two. One of the xenomorphs tackled him, but he stabbed it with his maul and separated the blades and cut the xenomorph in half at the torso. When the prince hunter looked up another xenomorph was jumping at him; he took aim and fired his shoulder cannon the aliens body hit the floor as he finished off the rest with his shoulder cannon. The narrow tunnels worked in favor of the prince hunter but an unusual roar caught his attention he scanned the tunnels ahead and spotted what had made the noise. It was a hybrid a gorilla-alien and it came running up the tunnel like a gorilla. The prince hunter unsheathed his wrist blades and took aim, but a hunting dog jumped over his head and tried to tackle the hybrid, but the hybrid caught the hunter dog and twisted it's body breaking it's spine and threw it at the hunter who rolled to the side and fired. The hybrid jumped up at the last minute and crawled across the ceiling. The prince hunter uncoiled his blade whip and dived to the side as the hybrid jumped at him; he flicked the whip and caught the creature around the head and decapitated it. He turned his head and the top half of his body just in time to shoot the facehugger jumping at him. The prince hunter closed off the side tunnels and continued further up the tunnel.

The hunter armed with the arm cannon closed off his tunnel and he would fire his cannon up the tunnel killing anything on the walls and destroying the hive itself. He dug through the rubble and passed a tunnel, but he slipped a motion detector on the wall, so when the xenomorph tried to sneak up behind him he unsheathed the blade on his arm cannon and stabbed the xenomorph in the head pinning him to the wall; it struggled for a few seconds before it died then he continued on.

A hunting dog was deep in the hive when he came upon a group of xenomorphs cocooning some humans; he growled at the xenomorphs and they started chasing the dog who lead them to the hunter with the arm cannon; he stood with his gun pointed forward and shot a net from the gun. The net spread across the tunnel like a web; then he fired up the tunnel collapsing it and killing the thirty xenomorphs chasing the hunter dog. The dog received a treat and together they continued up another tunnel.

Another hunter had closed off three tunnels and was heading to the next; he blew apart some of the hive with his shoulder cannon and continued on closing off the tunnel behind him with a laser pad. Three xenomorphs came running up the tunnel on the walls and one by one he killed them with his shoulder cannon. The xenomorphs he had killed were protecting some eggs they had brought to this part of the hive for some humans who were cocooned. One of the people had a face hugger on him already; he aimed and blew his head off the facehugger hadn't impregnated him yet. He then destroyed the eggs all eight of them and continued on.

The forth hunter of the group had closed off five tunnels and was attacked as he was placing a laser grid on the wall. He blew away the first xenomorph, but another ripped his shoulder gun off and stabbed him in the leg with his tail spike. He unsheathed his wrist blades and stabbed the xenomorph in the chest; then he picked him up and threw him into the others, but another xenomorph managed to sneak behind him by crawling across the ceiling and dropped down behind the hunter and stabbed him in the head with his second mouth.

The Prince Hunter was watching over his holo-projector on his arm he flipped up his control panel and activated the dead hunter's arm bomb. The explosion sealed off the tunnel and killed most of the xenomorphs. He then contacted the others and told them they had lost a hunter. After contacting his comrades he contacted the other hunting pack to see how they were faring. Then he continued on; one by one the hunters closed off the tunnels to trap the alien queen in the sewers and once she was trapped they would destroy the hive and hunt down the beings who started all this.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Face to Face

Ripley felt the explosion in the tunnels because she was a quarter of a mile from the humanoids making her way to the queen's chamber. She was unaware of the hunters or the fact that city was surrounded by a laser grid, because she had been in the sewers when they arrived. Ripley did feel something was wrong; something had the xenomorphs nervous and that something had killed several of the xenomorphs. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she could tell something was killing the xenomorphs and that something was in the tunnels. Whatever it was she planned to kill them or whoever it was if they got in the way. Ripley came to a tunnel that was blocked of by some type of laser grid and just behind the grid several dead xenomorphs littered the floor.

"What the hell did this…" One of the corpses was impaled by a spear it seemed to be and the other had been blown apart by some type of energy weapon. ("It could have been the androids…") She thought to herself.

Ripley took another path down another tunnel. She was armed with two hand guns and a plasma riffle; she had five grenades a full flame thrower pack and one hundred and eighty-six rounds. She had extra clips of five hundred rounds each and one motion detector. Ripley switched to the flame thrower and sprayed the walls ahead of her. That is when five facehuggers fell off the walls and two xenomorphs came running up the walls at her; she sprayed them with the flame thrower and both jumped back and tried to attack her again. Ripley switched to her gun and fired several rounds into the two xenmorphs killing them.  
An hour passed and she started noticing that the xenomorphs were heading back towards the center of the hive summoned by the queen. Something definitely was in the tunnels killing them and Ripley started to believe more and more that it wasn't human especially with how the xenomorphs were reacting.

Ripley came to three tunnels all had signs of recent activity by the xenomorphs; she chose the tunnel on the left and fired a grenade up the other two before she went on. Twenty minutes after entering the tunnel Ripley came across strange noises like synthesized cannon fire and a strange roar that sounded nothing like a xenomorph. Ripley came upon an underground reservoir where the xenomorphs were going toe to toe with a humanoid looking creature wearing sparse armor and a face plate. Ripley dropped to one knee and watched in shock as the extraterrestrials fired energy from the guns on their shoulders; a xenomorph was blown apart and another was cut on the shoulder by some type of throwing star. The alien warriors seemed familiar to Ripley and along with that familiarity came a burning desire to kill the warrior hunters. Ripley decided to leave and crawled backwards to avoid detection and when she stood up and turned a camouflaged hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. Ripley could see through the cloak of the eight foot tall humanoid, his hand felt like old leather and the creature purred as it became visible. In the eye scan of the humanoid it couldn't see the human female in normal scan so it switched scans and could see Ripley in a scan mode commonly used on the xenomorphs. He x-rayed Ripley and found she was some type of human-alien hybrid; somehow the humans had taken the DNA of a xenomorph and combined it with that of a human female. Her skull would make a fine trophy the hunter thought examining her.

Ripley used her nails and scratched the hunter on the arm he dropped her and unsheathed his wrist blades and slashed her in the face; the blades missed the inside of her eye by inches and left a bloody scar running from the left side of her face to the right cheek bone area. The hunter took aim at Ripley but she quickly grabbed her hand gun and shot a bullet at the swivel stand of the shoulder cannon which misfired blowing a hole into the wall. The hunter threw out his arm and shot a net at Ripley; she hit the wall as the spokes pinned her to the ground twisting the metal net over her body. Using her nails Ripley cut through metal net and freed herself, "You son of bitch…" She screamed taking out her plasma riffle.

She was about to shoot when the humanoid took a disk out that sprouted five blades and he threw it. The shuriken whistled through the air and cut her gun in half and it would have impaled her if she hadn't leaned back at the last minute. Ripley noticed the dagger at his side and jumped at the humanoid he grabbed her in the air and slammed her into the wall; she responded by scratching him two more times. He raised her up over his head and threw her down and reached for his dagger but it was gone.

Ripley showed him the weapon and smiled, "Lose something…" She leapt off the ground and onto his shoulders and slashed his throat. The humanoid fell backwards and hit the ground; Ripley sat on his abdomen and methodically stabbing him in the chest.

While the humanoid and Ripley had been fighting the other three hunters were finishing off the xenomorphs that had ambushed them. One of the hunters looked in the direction of his comrade and scanned until he could see what was stabbing his brother.  
He roared and targeted the hybrid female; Ripley noticed the three dot lights on her arm just in time to jump out of the way. She clung to the ceiling crawling across it and jumped down when the hunter fired again at her. Ripley hit the ground as the explosion threw her off balance, but she immediately got to her feet and ran for a ladder. Instead of climbing up the ladder she jumped up to the man hole cover and kicked it off just as the ladder was blown apart by a plasma blast.

The hunter x-rayed the street above and fired shot after shot trying to kill Ripley. Ripley ran with all her speed as the ground was blown apart right from under her feet. She leapt onto the side of a building and scurried up the side and escaped.

The hunter was about to go after her when the Prince Hunter placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Come…" was his only word.

Now there were only five hunters left and three hunting dogs; the hunter knelt beside his fallen brother and placed his body in bag until he could take it back to the ship. They split up again to seal the tunnels and take the queen from all sides.

Ripley stood on the top of the building looking north, then she turned east, then she looked west, and finally south and all she could see were lasers inches apart stretching from the sky to the ground. She left the roof of the building and headed northwest across too find some more weapons.

On another building on old Chelsea Johner and Call stood with binoculars looking at the laser grid. "Where did that come from…" He asked.

"Don't know its highly advanced… more advanced than anything I've ever seen…"

He looked at Call, "Do you think the androids are behind it?"

"No… this is beyond us as well… someone doesn't want the aliens getting out of the city…"

Johner and Call left the roof and headed downstairs, "Yeah but now we are trapped in the city as well along with everyone else who can't get out…"

"Well…" Call couldn't finish the sentence because when they opened the door an entire brigade of heavily armed marines was waiting for them in the dock with their guns drawn. "…I think we have bigger problems."

A marine stepped forward and disarmed them and lead the two of them to an air transport and off it took.

Ripley found an abandoned mobile armory and she began gathering as many guns as she could carry and when she was done she started walking up the street not really paying attention because her mind was on the alien beings she had just encountered. They seemed familiar to her from her alien half those humanoids were dangerous killers; flashes came to her mind about the humanoids and then she remembered the raid she lead against area fifty-one and the alien technology they found and the reports on the humanoids and even though the alien weapon worked Ripley had it destroyed along with everything else they found in the base bunker. She mentally berated herself for destroying the weapon and not keeping it; at the time it was a good idea because the government had confiscated it from the company Yutani when it stood alone as a single entity. A hover chopper flew overhead and Ripley walked into a huge group of marines pointing their guns at her.

"Drop your guns and get down on your knees now…" The commander ordered.  
Ripley had to obey because she was out in the open and unlike the star port she didn't have many options. She slowly put down her guns, looking into the sky hoping a battle borg would drop out of the sky or more practically she hoped a huge group of xenomorphs would show up especially since they were still in the xenomorphs territory. She dropped to her knees and was handcuffed.

"Be careful boys this bitch is dangerous…" The commander said. Ripley smiled as they loaded her onto a sky transport and off it took.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18. Strategy

Johner and Call had been taken to a mobile base near the business district. There were hundreds of thousands of marines and tents; tanks, hover-choppers, ACAUs, battle bridges which were floating, battle platforms armed with missile launchers gatling guns, and transports that could hold thousands of troops. The command tent sat in the center of the assembly area which is where Johner and Call were lead after they were taken out of the transport. "Well Johner your still alive… isn't that a surprise…" It was Kernal Lock who greeted them and he was in command.

"Lock… where is your friend… that bitch Janice…"

"She isn't my friend… I have orders and a soldier obeys orders…"

"Where is Hats?" Call asked.

Lock got up and offered Johner a drink, "I'm afraid your friend is a little more elusive than you two… he has killed hundreds of marines…"

"Hats doesn't like being backed into a corner and when he is… he comes out shooting…" Johner said.

"Yeah… I'd order my men to kill him on sight, but I have standing orders to have him brought in alive…"

"Why don't you tell us what is going on and who is responsible for the laser grid surrounding the city…"

Lock was about to answer when a marine came in and whispered into his ear. Call looked at Johner and whispered, "They have Ripley…"

"Well we have the prize…"

Johner and Call knew what he was talking about but they didn't react and that is when the flap was pulled back and in came Ripley with two marines escorting her.

"Ripley…" Call yelled when she entered the tent.

Ripley snapped her cuffs and threw both marines guarding her to the ground; the marines were about to react but Lock stopped them. Call ran up and hugged her, "…Not in front of the marines…" She jokingly said.

"Mrs. Bad ass herself… that was quit some chase you lead us on…"

"Of course… someone with half a brain would have stopped chasing me…"

Lock was offended but he just smiled; "Well there are bigger things than you going on…" He examined the dagger one of the marines had given him, "…By the look of this weapon I take it you met the new kids on the block."

She sighed, "We had a run in and I killed one of them…"

"Can you tell us anything useful…"

Ripley was mad, but she kept her calm, "I saw about five of them including the one I killed… their toys are more advanced than yours… you might want to consider moving your camp because they might decide to come after me…"

"Oh they will come after you and when they do we will be ready…"

Johner couldn't take it anymore, "What the hell are ya'll talking about?"

Lock activated a holo-projector, "It's better to show you…"

Johner watched a holo-video of the seventeenth fleet division being taken apart by an unknown and unseen space craft. When the space craft became visible it continued it's onslaught and vanished again. Then they watched a holo-video of some marines fighting off the xenomorphs who were joined by the humanoids who took apart the xenomorphs and protected the humans.

"That is some unbelievable shit…"

"So those… hunters are here for the aliens…" Call asked.

"Yes and in order to capture one we are going to use Ripley as bate… but first…" Lock stood up with a pair of scissors in his hand and went to Ripley, "We need a DNA sample from the bitch…"

Ripley grabbed Lock's arm she twisted it and took the scissors pointing it at his throat, but two marines pointed their guns at Johner and Call. "Let him go bitch… or we will plug your friends…"

"There is no escape Ripley…" Lock said. "…There is an entire army out there…"

"Take him out Ripley…" Johner yelled.

This was a fight Ripley couldn't win she would have to wait until the hunters came after her and in the confusion she would escape and free both Johner and Call; she slowly let Lock up and handed him the scissors. "No…" Call said in a sad tone. But Ripley winked at her as Lock cut a lock of hair from her head.

"My hair wow… I'm going to remove your head…"

Lock laughed as he handed a doctor Ripley's hair sample, "I look forward to that… Take them away and put the clone in the box."

"Lock your making a mistake if those hunters can take out an entire fleet what do you think they'll do to your little army…"

"Let them bring it on… it will be pay back…"

Johner and Call were brought to mobile holding cells while Ripley was placed in a steel box that was suspended above the camp by a crane. The box was large enough for Ripley to walk up and down and it had bars on the side so that she could be seen when the hunters came after her.

"Yes ma'am… we have the clone and the DNA sample is in route to you…" Lock was speaking to Janice over a holo-com channel.

"Don't underestimate this woman Kernel… she will probably wait until the hunters come after her to make her move… remember get what you need and get it out of there…"

"Yes ma'am consider it done…"

"Good man… we'll monitor you from here…"

He ended the transmission and called for the unit commanders to meet in his tent.

"Gentlemen the clone had a run in with the hunters and they'll probably come after her and she won't make a move until they come… I want four snipers in place to kill her when they do show up…"

"Kernel what about the motion detectors… will they pick up the hunters…"

"Yes, but they won't give you a positive lock you will have to wait until they make their move… we are after a blood sample of the hunters so make sure the extraction team is well protected…"

"Yes sir…" They all replied.

"Dismissed…" When they left the command tent Lock sat down and read the latest report on the xenomorph's movements.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19. Worthy Hunt

Hats had beaten the marines who trapped him in the building and had killed most of them. He made his way across the city avoiding capture and was now entering the xenomorph territory on his way to the star port. He was hot wiring a vehicle when he heard the scream of a woman; he tried to ignore it but the scream happened again.  
Hats started mumbling under his breath and cursed, "…I'm going to regret this." He said to himself. He finished hot wiring the car despite the anti-theft device and drove up the street towards the scream.

Hat's wasn't the only one who heard the scream it had been heard by one of the humanoids from the first hunting group who was tracking stray xenomorphs in the city; he not only heard the scream he saw it via hologram transmitted from a sky drone. The humanoid's arm band was up and he was looking at several humans run from the xenomorphs and the woman who screamed being dragged by a xenomorph. He closed down the hologram and broke out into a run.

Hats drove with the door open at full speed when he saw the group of humans running he bailed from the car rolling on the ground and got to his knees; he fired his grenade launcher at the car as it rolled forward several people jumped out of the path of the vehicle and the explosion killed five xenomorphs. He switched to auto mode and fired at the xenomorphs killing a dozen. As he switched clips two xenomorphs came running at him, but Hats started running towards them and when they jumped he slid on his knees and as they passed over him he fired barely missing the acid blood that fell from their now dead corpses. A xenomorph hissed in his face, "Yo mama.." He said shoving his gun into the alien's mouth and shooting the flame thrower; the xenomorph exploded right in front of him but again he avoided the acid blood. The woman was being dragged into the sewers and Hats took aim of the alien and shot his arm off enabling the woman to get away so he finished the xenomorph off. His exploits had been observed by the humanoid in the area who was crouched on a building fifty feet away.

"Are you a marine?" A man asked.

"Not exactly… I am with the Rebel Core…" He said trying to catch his breath, the women ran up and gave him a big hug.

"Thank you…" She kept saying.

"You people better come with me… any of you know how to use a gun…"

"I do…" A large man yelled coming forward. Hats handed him a pistol and two clips.

"Come on lets go before more of those things show up…"

"Where are you taking us?" The woman asked.

"We are headed to the star port… the city militia is making a last stand there…" Hats paused something felt off.

"What's wrong…" The man he gave the gun too asked.

Hats swung around pointing his gun at the roof of a building; there was something on the roof that was blended into the background almost glassy looking. "What is it…" The woman asked.  
"There is something on the roof…"

The entire group turned to the roof and stared, "There is nothing up there…" The man he gave the gun said.

"Right… let's go…" As they left Hats kept staring at the roof and when he turned his head a glowing pair of eyes flashed.

The hunter was getting ready to follow them when a xenomorph climbed up on the roof and crept up behind the hunter; he was seven feet from the hunter when the hunter extended his combstick and threw it backwards from his side. The spear like weapon plunged into the xenomorph's chest and he removed a disk from his belt unsheathed the blades and spun around throwing the shuriken decapitating the creature.

He jumped down from the roof and examined the carnage Hats had committed and decided that human was worthy of hunting.

Hats had hot-wired another vehicle a SUV and drove up the road at a normal speed heading towards the bridge, but there were xenomorphs on the bridge and crawling under it.

"We have company…" A man yelled holding the motion detector.  
Several xenomorphs broke cover and started chasing the vehicle. Hats slammed on the accelerator and put the van in a spin. As the woman screamed he stuck his plasma gun outside the window and began shooting. The other man added his gun fire to the mix as well; when the van stopped spinning Hats had killed another eight xenomorphs. "You are the man…" The same man yelled.

A purring growl came from the suspension line of the bridge where the camouflaged humanoid was hanging watching the group his target was Hats. He watched them drive off dodging the abandoned vehicles on the bridge and jumped from rope to rope.

Hats had been driving for the pass fifteen minutes when the tire blew out. Everyone jumped out the vehicle and examined the tire. "Did we hit a nail or something…"

Hats looked at the man he gave the gun too, "The tire was shot out…"

"What…"

Hats stepped to the side, "Have a look…"

"Son of bitch…"

"I will get the spare…" Hats said.

"Don't bother… two of the other tires are flat as well…"

Hats looked at the surrounding buildings, "All right let's move out…"

"On foot…" The woman asked.

"We'll find another vehicle…"

They had to walk only three blocks before they came across a vehicle, but the tires were flat; in fact all the cars they encountered either had slashed or blown out tires. "What the hell is this…" A man said.

Hats looked this way and that way along the roofs of the buildings, "Something is tracking us…"

"You are starting to scare me man…" The man in the business suit said.

The woman was crying, "I have to get out of here…"

"Everyone calm down…" The man who Hats gave the pistol too said.

"Come on… lets keep moving… everyone keep your eyes open… you watch the rear…" Hats lead the group through the alley ways in order to thin the numbers of any of the aliens following them.

As they crossed the street to the next alley they all passed a camouflaged rope but when the man in the rear put his foot into the rope he was hoisted into the air and was bought face to face with a pair of glowing yellow eyes; the humanoid stabbed the man with his wrist blades and began skinning him.

"Oh shit…" The business man cried, "…Uh guys our rear guard guy is missing."

Hats stopped and looked around and called out the man's name, but there was no response. "Did any of you hear anything?" He asked.

"No…" They all replied.

"We are being followed…"

"By one of those things…" The woman asked.

Hats looked at the roofs above him, "No… this is something else… lets keep moving…"

As they left another alley on to the main street a noise stopped them, "…What the hell was that?" The Business man asked.

"I can't take this shit anymore…" Another man said walking up to Hats. "Give me a gun… if something is following us I want to die fighting and not waiting for it to get me…"

Hats was about to hand the man a gun when a military truck drove up on them. "Oh thank God we are saved…" The women cried.

The sergeant jumped out of the truck, "Are you people okay are any of you infected…" They all replied no; "Come with us…"

There was a whirling whistling like sound when the woman was sprayed by blood and she let out a deafening scream as the sergeants head fell off. The rest of the men five in all jumped out of the truck while Hats took cover behind a dumpster.

"What the hell was that?" A marine asked.

"Spread out…" A marine yelled, but he was stabbed from behind and thrown into the truck. Another marine fired at the glowing yellow eyes but he missed as a red laser pointed at him and a flash of energy blew his head off. The woman dove under the truck as the business man grabbed the dead marine's gun and he was shot with a net that constricted over his body.

"Back to back…" One of the three remaining marines yelled; then they shot wildly into the air.

The humanoid took aim and powered his shoulder cannon to max and fired; the plasma bolt killed all three marines in the explosion and turned the vehicle over where the woman was hiding. She went running up the street screaming as Hats tried to run her down; he stopped as a light on his arm caught his attention. He remembered the light from earlier and what happened after and dove behind a car when he heard the shot. The car he dove behind exploded blowing out both his ear drums; Hats jumped up and shot in the direction the plasma bolt came from and a few bullets bounced off of something glassy looking causing an electrical current that resolved into a humanoid.

"What the fuck…" Hats said switching over to grenade; he fired at the humanoid as it leapt off the building. He fired three grenades in all and cautiously walked over to the ruble using his motion detector, but nothing came up.

"What the fuck…" The humanoid said mimicking Hats who spun around shooting. He was hit in the shoulder by a foot long spike that pinned him to the wall on the side of the building.  
Hats had dropped his gun and as he yanked the spike out the humanoid dropped down in front of him crushing Hats' plasma gun with his feet. Hats let out a scream as he charged the bleeding humanoid and stabbed it in the chest. The humanoid twisted Hats' arm breaking it and struck him in the face; as he hit the ground his cap came off. Hats took out his pistol and was going to shoot, but the humanoid uncoiled his blade whip and took off Hats' hand. He fell to his knees breathing heavily and the humanoid walked right up to him unsheathing his wrist blades.

Hats looked up at the masked alien and spit; he grunted as the humanoid stabbed him in the chest and Lance Hats Strong breathed his last.

The humanoid went about the bloody business of skinning Hats and removing his spinal cord and skull. After cleaning the skull the humanoid mounted Hats' skull on his back pole along with two other skulls. The humanoid was about to leave when he spotted the cap Hats had been wearing; he picked it up and placed it on the skull and returned to hunting the xenomorphs.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20. Death of a Queen

There were only three hunters left in the Prince Hunter's party and two hunting dogs. The hunting party had planted enough explosives and mini-laser traps to close off the tunnels surrounding the nest. As they got closer to the queens chamber the fighting grew heavier and another hunter was killed but not before he sealed off his tunnel.

The Prince Hunter was being swarmed by the xenomorphs; one of the xenomorphs got past his shoulder cannon and tackled him, but he grabbed the xenomorph by the throat and slammed it into the wall. It tried to stab him with it's tail spike, but the Prince Hunter cut the tail off and threw his last laser grid on wall three xenomorphs were cut to pieces as they tried to get to him. One did get through, but he put the xenomorph he held by the throat in the path of the attacking xenomorph. He extended his combstick and stabbed both aliens through. There were xenomorphs in front of him and xenomorphs behind both groups held back by a laser grid. The group behind was attacked by two hunting dogs that lead the group away from the area. The Hunter Prince looked and used his sonic gauntlet and punched up to the street above.

He purred as he contacted the others who told him they were ready; the Hunter Prince made his way through the medical plaza where the nest spread out like a web from beneath the plaza in the sewers; along the way he had to fight off a few xenomorphs and he got help from two hunter dogs. All three hunters humanoid and dogs ran into an ambush of thirty xenomorphs. Within the first three minutes a hunter dog was killed and nine xenomorphs; the Hunter Prince was surrounded, but he used his blade whip and whipped it around killing several of the xenomorphs. He removed two dart balls from his belt and threw them left and right killing over twenty xenomorphs. Now there were only eleven left and three of those eleven killed the second hunting dog; he netted one of the xenomorphs and shot two with his shoulder cannon. He removed his maul from his belt and killed the rest receiving a few minor injuries.

When the Hunter Prince arrived at the construction site he summoned two drones with his arm band and quickly connected his shoulder cannon to one of the drones and then connected the second drone to the shoulder cannon. The cannon was raised into the air about twenty feet then by remote the Hunter Prince programmed the cannon to drill a hole all the way to the nest. While the cannon fired a beam of plasma energy into the ground while the Hunter Prince was arming the detonation sequence on his wrist gauntlet.  
The xenomorph queen sensing her life in danger detached herself from her ovarian sack and ran through the sewer tunnels just as a beam of plasma energy blasted through into the queen's chamber. She ran through the tunnels despite her size; she did however come to a part of the tunnel where she couldn't get through so she smashed her way up through the street above and ran heading south east.

When the hole was complete the Hunter Prince dropped his bomb device down the hole and broke out into a run. He ran as fast as he could before the countdown would end and at the same time he received a report from another hunter that the queen had escaped the sewers and was out in the open. The xenomorphs still in the sewers tried to disarm the bomb but it had a fail safe on it and device exploded.

Command Bunker:

"What is that…" Janice asked pointing to an explosion on the holo-viewer.

"Plasma based explosion ma'am… we think it's the hunters…" The operator explained.

The entire control room watched the monitor as a bluish white ball of energy expanded until it was a hundred feet in circumference. The ball of energy had tendrils of electricity arcing out ricocheting off of buildings and shattering glass. The blast wave finally popped from the bubble of energy and followed by the dissipating wave of energy. The ground was torn apart, buildings were shattered and ripped up like paper in a shredder or food in a blinder. When initial blast ended and the dust cleared a crater one quarter mile in circumference took up the place were the medical plaza had been and all the surrounding buildings for hundreds of blocks had been leveled to the ground. All Janice and the emergency command staff could do was look in awe of the destruction. A call from the President pulled her out of the trance she was in.

The Hunter Prince stood on a building two feet just outside the blast zone and even though the building he was on had been half way gutted out it still stood. He reconnected his shoulder cannon to the stand on his shoulder pack; then he contacted the remaining hunters who gave him an update on the queen who with sixty xenomorphs was running up the main street to the canal.

A hunting dog snarled as it tracked the queen who was running thirty miles an hour with her drones following her up the street. Two of the xenomorphs stopped and broke away from the pack to track the hunter dog.

The hunter dog slid on all fours to a stop and sniffed the air; he snarled and changed direction parallel to the way the queen was running. He stopped again as two xenomorphs jumped out at him. The creatures growled and hissed at each other and they were about to attack when a humanoid dropped down and stabbed both xenomorphs; one he stabbed with his combstick and the other with his maul. He placed both weapons on his belt and patted the hunting dog on the head and they took off.

Sensing the death of the two drones the queen sent ten xenomorphs out after her pursuers. The minute they left the group a huge plasma bolt struck a building in front of her collapsing the building to it's side cutting off the alien queen's path to the canal.

"This is birdie three to nest… come in…" The pilot of a hover-chopper was flying over head tracking the queen when the explosion cut her off.

"Go ahead birdie three we hear you…"

"We are tracking one huge alien bitch she has changed directions and is south west now… her little friends are scattering… please advice…"

"Keep your distance birdie three… possible humanoids in the area…"

"Copy that…"

Through the enhanced infrared eyes of his mask the Hunter Prince joined the humanoid armed with the arm cannon on the roof. Where they watched the humans track the alien queen. The arm cannon hunter wanted to take them out, but the Hunter Prince told him to stay on the queen. Obeying orders the hunter ran and jumped off the building and continued on. The Hunter Prince left in the opposite direction; his plan was to heard the queen where they wanted her to go, but the humans were becoming a nuisance.

One of the xenomorphs was a hybrid tiger-alien and he was leading the group of xenomorphs that would get the hunters off the queen's tail. The group of xenomorphs ran out in the open and as they ran up the street one of the xenomorphs was blown apart by a plasma blast.  
The blast had come from the side of a building and three xenomorphs converged on the area where a hunter was clinging to the side of the building. He climbed the rest of the way up the fifty story building and when the xenomorphs reached the top there were two humanoids and the hunting dog waiting for them. The humanoids stood back to back while the hunting dog tackled the tiger-alien; the two animals went tumbling off the side of the building as they wrestled back and forth for dominance.

While the two creatures fought it out the two humanoids fired plasma blast after plasma blast killing the onslaught of xenomorphs crawling up to the roof. The first humanoid removed a blade disk from his belt and hooked a device from his mask to it and targeted eight xenomorphs; then he threw the blade disk and it found it's mark killing every xenomorph that had been targeted. The building became so wet with acid blood that roof no longer supported the weight of the two humanoids. They fell through the roof crashing through five floors before they both used grapples to stop their falls. As they hung in the air a xenomorph leapt off the wall, but was netted by the second Humanoid and the first finished him off with a dart spike from his gauntlet.

Once again the queen was cut off by a building that had been blown out so that it would collapse in front of her. When she stopped this time two xenomorphs were killed by shurikens and the Hunter Prince jumped off a building spun around and stabbed the queen in the shoulder with his combstick. She roared as the weapon was left in her shoulder and he shot her in the chest with a plasma bolt from his shoulder cannon. She struck the Hunter Prince with her tail and when he hit the wall two xenomorphs came running at him and jumped. He netted one and killed the other with a spike from his arm gauntlet. The queen tried to stab him with her tail spike and as the spike was coming at him he dropped to his back and cut the spike off with his wrist blades. He rolled to the side as the acid blood fell from her tail; he was joined by another hunter who killed two more xenomorphs and threw a shuriken at the queen severing her leg.

"Now…" The pilot shouted to his gunner and he was about to shoot tear gas and splatter bullets into the group when the queen flicked her tail spraying the ship with acid from her tail. The ship went crashing into the street below and exploded. With the death of the annoying humans the humanoids had a clearing to finish off the queen. The Hunter Prince took out his blade whip and coiled it around the queen's neck and decapitated her. The body thudded to the floor and it was over. The other hunters walked up to the Hunter Prince and saluted him by slamming their fists against their chest as a sign of respect. Then they busied themselves by cleaning the skull and they all camouflaged and took the skull to their ship in central park where the operator was still waiting. After they placed the skull on board the humanoids checked the status of the second hunting party and then they scanned the city for any remaining xenomorphs. Then they sent sky drones to the human assembly area where they were holding the hybrid human who was the object of a particular humanoid's lust for revenge.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21. Duel of Honor

Ripley sensed the death of the queen and after another two hours her enhanced senses she could see through the cloak of the humanoids as they approached the assembly area from different directions. ("Here we go…") She said thinking to herself. Ripley had to make no sudden movements that the humanoids were in the area because if she did the snipers would kill her and it would be over with for her.  
The humanoids took up positions around the assembly area and the Hunter Prince stood near a tree observing one of the snipers then he scanned the auto-sentry and the patrols walking their rounds. With a purr he issued orders to the other humanoids, but one humanoid spoke up saying that the hybrid human was his alone to kill. Once they were all agreed they moved in for the kill.

"Scanning sector five… sniper-six report status…" The commander said over the com.  
There was a clicking static sound before sniper-six reported in; "All is clear…" No sooner had he signed off that his head was loped of by the blade of a camouflaged humanoid.

"Sniper-six is down…" The commander screamed over the com. The minute he died the entire mobile base came to life.

"Snipers take out the clone now…" Kernel Lock screamed into his head set, but it was too late all the snipers were already dead and the people in the mobile command center watched as life signs flat lined on the screen.

As soon as the snipers were dead along with their back ups Ripley grabbed the bars ignoring the electric shock and bent apart until she could climb out and jump down thirty feet below. A soldier tried to kill her but she jumped twenty feet into the air and landed next to the man and snapped his neck. She took his gun and shot down several more people as she made her way to where Johner and Call were being held.

"We are under attack… I repeat we are under attack..." Lock said into his head set.

Everyone turned to the door when it opened and a glassy figure stood in the doorway. The unseen intruder took his camouflaged hand and threw a dart ball into the command center; the ball split into a bunch of smaller darts and killed six people and severely wounded a couple of others. The soldiers not wounded whipped out their pistols and fired at the door and hit nothing but wall, air, and door. The humanoid shot from his shoulder cannon and killed three people; he then removed two shurikens from his belt and killed the commander and Kernel Lock. Their bodies hit the floor as their heads came off at the same time.

The Hunter Prince stabbed a soldier from behind with is combstick then he killed another man with his blade whip. One soldier got off a shot that disrupted the Hunter Prince's camouflage and he became visible. He roared as the man yelled; "I got one… I got one…" The Hunter Prince pumped his arm gauntlet like a shot gun and fired a spike into the man's head. When the Hunter Prince tried to reset his camouflage a hover chopper fired a steel net over him; he looked up targeting the ship and fired his shoulder cannon. As the chopper went tumbling out of the sky the Hunter Prince used his wrist blades to cut through the net and once he was free he camouflaged and became invisible.

A huge explosion threw Ripley to the ground and this explosion was greater than the one the Humanoids shot from their shoulder guns. Ripley got up and ran with her enhanced speed to the cells holding Johner and Ripley.

"Ripley get out of here…" Call yelled; "…those hunters are after you."

Ripley gritted her teeth and ripped the door of it's hinge; "I'll get out after I free the two of you…"

"Look out…" Johner yelled.

A soldier ran up behind Ripley, but she back flipped over him when he was close enough and she grabbed his neck and snapped it. Then she freed Johner who tried to pick up a gun but Ripley stepped on it. "Leave it… they only hunt armed opponents…"

The three companions cautiously made their way to a truck that had the keys in the ignition. They all jumped in and drove off at a high rate of speed until the tires were blown out and the vehicle flipped over. The occupants were about to exit the vehicle when a humanoid landed on top of the upside down truck. "Holy shit…" Johner screamed as a pair of camouflaged blades tore into the truck like a can opener cutting open a can. The floor which was now up was ripped open and Ripley was grabbed by the foot and slung to the ground. She was about to shoot the glassy looking figure on the truck when she was netted from behind. When Call was pulled from the vehicle she was shot with a low level plasma bolt that shut her off and she was thrown to the ground. Johner managed to get out and he started running, but he was shot in the leg by a spike.

Plasma bolts were fired from four different directions as the marines were taken apart by the humanoids. Battle bridges were hit by the plasma bolts from the arm cannon of a humanoid. Men were cut in half blown apart and stabbed and despite the advanced weapons of their attackers the marines kept fighting, but not for much longer. Another hour passed before all two hundred marines were killed; the humanoids suffered only minor cuts and wounds.

"No…" A man screamed out as he was stabbed in the chest by the blade from a humanoid. As vehicles exploded or burned the humanoids became visible as they gathered together. To Ripley's relief Johner was still alive; wounded, but alive and she was really relieved to see Call who was stiff as a board but at least the humanoids hadn't torn her to pieces.

Ripley was still imprisoned in the net and she was dragged into a patch of ground surrounded by five humanoids. The hunter who captured her released her from the net and as she stood up a humanoid stepped forward; the same one who had tried to kill her in the sewers. He took off his mask and then he removed his shoulder cannon and weapons belt; then he roared at Ripley. Johner was held down on his knees with a blade to his throat and he watched as the humanoid who had captured Ripley handed her a blade handle first.

The blade Ripley took was the same one she killed the humanoid with in the sewers and then was taken from her by Kernel Lock. The other humanoids stood in a semi-circle while Ripley squared off against the unmasked humanoid.

"Ripley be careful…" Johner shouted at the feet of the humanoid.

"Fine let's do this…" Ripley said.

The humanoid purred, "Let's do this…" It repeated in a gurgled voice.

They circled one another and with every circuit they came closer to one another and it began. Their blades made a distinct sound when they hit each other. Ripley was fast but the humanoid was just as fast as he slashed her on the cheek, but Ripley rolled to the ground and slashed him on the leg. When she came out of the role the humanoid kicked her in the face; when Ripley hit the ground she jumped back up to her feet from her back and jumped up into a spin kick breaking his right lower mandible on his face. As Ripley was coming down the humanoid reached out and grabbed her by the throat. Ripley dangled in his hand by her throat and slit his arm; the humanoid threw her down and she rolled and came up on her feet.  
The other humanoids watched as Ripley ran at their clan brother throwing her blade. He caught the blade out of the air by the handle as Ripley slid on the ground between his legs and jumped up onto the humanoids back.

"Yeah…" Johner shouted as the humanoid struggled to throw her off.

The humanoid dropped to his back trying to crush Ripley against the ground, but she managed to raise her legs and flip the humanoid over. She tried to snap his neck, but the humanoid grabbed her and slammed her to the ground on her back. The humanoid tried to stab her, but Ripley grabbed his hand; then she kicked the humanoid in the face breaking one of his mandibles. Ripley used her legs and grabbed the humanoid's enormous head and with all her might she flipped him over and straddled his chest. Ripley jabbed her finger into his eye and the humanoid roared; then she stabbed him with his own blade. She plunged the blade into his chest then she slit his throat and the humanoid was still.

"Yeah…" Johner shouted.

Ripley stood up breathing heavy and looked at the rest of the humanoids and asked; "Who's next…"

As if in response to her question the humanoid with the half skull mask stepped forward and removed his mask. Ripley watched as the humanoid handed his face plate to another humanoid then he removed his blade from it's sheave and slid the blade across his hand. The leader as Ripley assumed he was because of the mask squeezed the blood from his hand and when a small puddle of neon like green blood was at his feet the humanoid threw his blade into the ground where the blood had pooled.

The Hunter Prince looked at Ripley purring and nodded to her so she replicated his act; then the Hunter Prince gurgled; "You killed his brother…"

Ripley looked at the Hunter Prince then at the humanoid she had killed; "I killed his brother…" She repeated, "…and this was some kind of honor duel…" The Hunter Prince nodded, "So what now…"

The Hunter Prince took his hand and used two fingers to point at his eyes then he pointed at Ripley's eyes. "Watch…" He flipped up display on his arm band and activated a hologram and projected it into the air. The hologram was of two ships in space in a heated dog fight. The first ship was a humanoid ship that fired its plasma beams and bolts on a second ship of human design, but the ship had energy based weapons.

"That's the ship Slocavitch told us about…" Johner yelled.

The humanoids looked at one another when Johner said this; the Android ship was almost as fast and maneuverable as the humanoid ship. The Android ship's one weakness is that its guns had to recharge after firing. Somehow the Android ship overcame the humanoid ship and even pulled along side and the Androids boarded the ship. The Androids shot their way on board the humanoid ship killing hunter dogs and humanoids as they bravely shot their way through to where the humanoids were keeping the xenomorph embryos.

"Cover fire… cover fire…" An android shouted, but he was blown apart by a blast from the shoulder cannon of a humanoid.

Then the same humanoid was killed by two androids using their military grade plasma riffles. They snatched five embryos, but they only got away with three as they fought their way back aboard to the android ship. As the ship made off with its stolen cargo the humanoid star ship blew up, but the android ship survived the explosion; the hologram flickered off and the Hunter Prince closed down the screen on his arm band.

"So what now…"

"You help us find them…" He gurgled a reply.

"I don't know what help I would be if any… my friend can help…" Ripley said pointing at Call…"

The Hunter Prince ordered the humanoid holding Johner to release him and heal his leg while he bent over Call and placed a device on her chest. The device shocked her and she woke up and screamed and struggled to get away from the humanoid.

"Call its okay…"

"Okay hell… do you know what it is like to be unable to move and yet conscious… it is the pits…"

"Our new friends need our help Call they have something to show you…"

The Hunter Prince showed Call the same footage he showed Ripley then Ripley took the interface cord out of Call's arm to her protestation and hooked it to the Hunter Prince's arm band. At first Call spoke in an alien language then she said made a purring sound like the humanoids and spoke; ["Scanning enhanced by one thousand percent… target acquired coordinates one hundred and fifty-nine minutes east; three degrees one hundred ninety minutes north."] When the coordinates were known Ripley, Call, and Johner accompanied the humanoids to their ship.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22. Blade Hunter

A few humanoids practice the old ways; the way of the blade, they don't use energy weapons. They hunted with hand and blade and they used a lot more armor than the other humanoids. The true hunter relied on the senses and pure instinct; not even the sky drones were used. This humanoid was such a hunter; a veteran hunter and he was tracking twenty xenomorphs who were trying to find a way out of the city.

The group he was tracking was heading west and he was on their trail. The xenomorphs could sense he was following and split up into two groups. With the queen dead the drones were looking for another potential queen to replace the one they lost and there were a thousand xenomorphs left alive in the city. In order to get a better perspective the blade hunter climbed up the side of a building and ran and jumped from building to building. Landing on the seventh building he was confronted by the eight xenomorphs who split from the group. He purred as he was surrounded by the xenomorphs; they cautiously approached him and then attacked at the same time.

The Blade Hunter threw two shurikens and killed four of the eight xenomorphs because the weapons arced around and stuck in side of the building wall that led to the stairs. He whipped out his combstick and killed the xenomorph in front of him then he spun around and killed the two on his right and left and as the last xenomorph tried to tackle him from the back, but he stabbed backwards with his blade then he spun around and slit the xenomorph's throat killing it. All eight xenomorphs now lay dead at his feet as he sheathed his blades that were two feet long, two inches thick, and four inches wide. The Blade Hunter then collected his shurikens and followed the tracks of the xenomorphs he had just killed to the point where they had split from the main group.

The xenomorph leading the group was a hybrid; a dog-alien that had burst from the chest of a pit. His jaws were a lot stronger and more pronounced than a regular xonomorph's. He led them through the allies and side streets heading towards his direction. When he felt the death of the other eight xenomorphs he decided to lay a trap for the hunter following them. When he decided to do that they were joined another group of xenomorphs about thirty of them who decided to follow the hybrid, because they were being tracked by another hunter.  
The blade hunter had gone a mile when the tracks broke off into different directions and they were more of them. He was crouched low examining the ground when another humanoid walked up to him he greeted the blade hunter because he was older. They exchanged information and then the younger hunter took a vile from his arm band; it was a synthetic pheromone of the alien queen. The blade hunter took a sample and the two of them split up the younger heading to another section of the city.

The xenomorphs smelt it but they weren't going to fall for that because if there was a new queen she would have contacted them telepathically it was an obvious trap. Five of the xenomorphs entered a hotel lobby where the smell was coming from and when they came in the blade hunter was standing on the second level with a bow in his hand; the arrows came from his gauntlet and when he shot at them the extremely thick arrow opened up to reveal several smaller arrows inside and killed the five xenomorphs. That is when ten more entered the lobby from different directions; the blade hunter entered the turbo shaft and shimmied up the shaft with ten xenomorphs chasing him; so he used a grapple line to reach the roof. When he reached the top he threw two dart balls down the shaft killing the ten xenomorphs, but he didn't have time to rest because he was tackled from behind by the hybrid who tried to bite his shoulder but the armor was two strong. The hybrid tried to stab the blade hunter in the back of the head with his second mouth, but he unsheathed a blade from the back side of his gauntlet and stabbed the hybrid then when he got back to his feet he spun around and stabbed the hybrid again with the wrist blades from the front. Now there were only twenty-seven left and he went on the hunt again.

The remaining xenomorphs had found a human to implant an embryo into and with that a new queen was born and they were building the nest inside an abandoned building. Within two hours she was laying eggs, but her rule was going to be a short one. The blade hunter had found the nest after another hour and he x-rayed the building and decided to take them head on. He smashed through the boards that covered the opening throwing all four of his shurikens three xenomorphs died and an egg was split open. The new queen was only sixteen feet tall and she broke away from her ovarian sack and dropped down to the floor as the other xenomorphs attacked the humanoid.

The blade hunter threw his last two dart balls and wounded the queen and several xenomorphs. He ran towards the queen drawing his blades; she stabbed her tail at him, but he slashed with his right sword hand and cut the spike off; then he leapt up and stabbed her in the shoulder blades. That is when a xenomorph tackled him to the floor they tussled back and forth then he unsheathed his maul and gutted the xenomorph and turned the maul into two blades decapitating two more xenomorphs. There was acidic blood everywhere and he had to remove some of his armor, but the veteran hunter wouldn't go down. He was stabbed twice in the chest and three times in the back and as the fight went on the bodies of the xenomorphs piled up. The queen tried to escape but he removed his combstick from his belt and threw it into her head. She roared in pain and fell to the floor with the two blades still in her shoulder blades and the combstick in her head. Another eleven minutes passed before the last xenomorph was cut into five huge chunks by his blade whip. The blade hunter had acid burns on his arm and upper chest and numerous stab wounds, but he would live. He took a green pill from his belt and swallowed it whole.

Then he treated his acid wounds and stabs; then he noticed that the queen was still alive so he walked up to her and yanked the combstick out of her head and stabbed her again in the head but at a different angle. He decapitated her and cleaned the skull as a trophy; then he removed his arm bomb and left it in the building. As the blade hunter ran with the skull in his arms the building exploded shattering several windows and gutting several surrounding buildings. The blade hunter returned to the shuttle in the park to put his trophy away and went back to the hunt after eating a nice meal.

This time he hunted near the docks and the group he hunted had over two hundred xenomorphs in it. As he passed the first warehouse two xenomorphs jumped out at him from the roof. He spun around drawing two shurikens from his belt and threw them at the xenomorphs while they were still in the air. He caught one in the head killing it and the second was severed at the torso. They hit the ground spilling acid blood onto the pavement. The blade hunter cautiously approached the one he got in the head and removed his shuriken; he flicked the acidic blood off the weapon and climbed to the roof and jumped from roof to roof.  
When he landed on the forth roof he spotted a group of ten xenomorphs cocooning some humans. As a face hugger climbed onto the face of a man he threw a shuriken severing the man's head with the facehugger still attached. He threw four more shurikens killing three of the xenomorphs; the forth shuriken cut off a xenomorphs arm and stuck into the side of an old container. He removed his maul and stabbed backwards at the xenomorph sneaking up behind him; he twisted the blade and separated them into two blades slicing it in half.  
The remaining seven xenomorphs on the ground charged the blade hunter crawling on side the warehouse wall. The blade hunter ran to the edge of the building jumped off from forty feet and as he was coming down he sliced the heads off two of the xenomorphs. As he landed on his feet their headless bodies hit the ground behind him. He looked up as the seven xenomorphs had jumped off the side of the building at the same time. He shot his nets one after the other thinning their numbers to three while the other four struggled in their nets when they hit the ground. He took out his combstick and stabbed one of them as he hit the ground; the other two tried to tackle him but the blade hunter wrapped the two of them in his whip blade and killed them.

When he turned the blade hunter found himself facing the charge of some one hundred xenomorphs. He took out two dart balls and threw them at onslaught; five xenomorphs went down and four were badly wounded. He threw his last five shurikens as he ran towards them and killed eleven of them. Another three died before he shot a grapple line to the adjacent warehouse and as he rose up above the xenomorphs he detached the bomb pack from his gauntlet and dropped it into swarm of xenomorphs. When he got to the roof he ran across and jumped down to the street and entered the sewers as the explosion destroyed over seventy percent of the warehouse district. The sewers beneath the warehouse was another hive and the blade hunter was standing before a group of some ninety plus xenomorphs. He was out of shurikens, dart balls, and nets. He had lost his combstick as well, the only weapons he had left was his wrist blades, his maul, sword blades, and his blade whip. The blade hunter had one long blade in each gauntlet; he unsheathed them both and charged them because the narrow hall nullified their numbers; as such only four and seven xenomorphs at a time could attack him. The blade hunter made quick deadly slashes that would kill any xenomorphs that got too close, a stab to the head or slash to the throat. If he couldn't he would wound them with a stab to the upper throat. He finally sheathed his right wrist blade and used his blade sword. As the xenomophs fell to his blades he would take a step back to avoid the acid blood pooling from the bodies pilling up before him; every now and then he would use his blade whip to kill and wrench a xenomorph off the ceiling. The xenomorphs couldn't return to the surface because the streets above were in rubbles.

He killed the last two xenomrphs at the same time and roared a deep bellowing roar of victory filling the sewers with the sound of his voice. He left the gory scene and made his way to egg chamber where another queen was laying eggs; she was defenseless hanging from the ceiling via the webbing. The hunter removed his metal pack and from it took a burner and set a tube of blue liquid on the plate and turned the burner on high. As he did this the queen hissed and was trying to free herself from the webbing and her ovarian sack, but the blade hunter used his blade whip and severed both her legs; he then ran for the surface. The flaming liquid killed her and all the eggs in the hive.

The blade hunter was brother to the clan lord and the second member of the clan; he was a veteran and had been in many hunts and sired many members of his clan. He practiced the old ways the way of the sword; he practiced an art of hunting in his culture few mastered or reached. He had killed over two hundred xenomorphs with his blade and for him it was the thrill of the kill and not the trophies or the prestige that went along with it; he hunted to please himself and the fact that two xenomorph queens met their end at his blades was very gratifying. He couldn't rest or celebrate yet there was a lot more killing that needed to be done and of the second group of hunters he and the hunter who killed Hats were the only ones left along with two hunting dogs. He made his way back to the shuttle to get more weapons and another meal.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23. The Clan Lord's Hunt

As the hunters from both groups made their kills and fought their battles the Clan Lord sat on his thrown watching four hologram screens that were projected into the air in front of him. He watched as his son lead his group back to the shuttle where they prepared to assault artificial creatures who stole the xenomorphs from a sister ship. It was almost over with when something interesting caught his attention. With a wave of his hand three of the four screens dissolved and the remaining screen increased by quadrupling in size. The Clan Lord watched as the young hunter who had been with the blade hunter was led into a trap the xenomorphs fifty in all held him down stripped off his shoulder cannon and finally removed his mask. The Clan Lord sat forward on his thrown as a face hugger attached to his face; the xenomorphs had wounded the young hunter and continued to hold him down so he couldn't set off his detonator. After eight minutes it happened, the embryo burst from his chest and one of the xenomorphs stabbed the young hunter in the head because he was still alive. The new hybrid queen roared and immediately it began shedding and doubled in size within ten minutes. The Clan Lord waited until it was five feet tall; then he sent a message to the hunters down on the surface; which was more of an order.

The new queen hybrid was his to hunt alone; in the humanoid's entire history there have only been five Predaliens including the one that had just hatched and of those only two have ever been successfully hunted and made into a trophy. If the Clan Lord could hunt and kill the hybrid he would be the envy of all the other clan lords and his prestige would definitely shoot up. He stood up and when he did the hunting dogs looked at him and followed him down the steps to a side door that led to his private armory. There were all types of weapons and hunting tools inside including ten different types of shoulder cannons. He took the following from the wall; he removed eight shurikens and hooked them to his belt, a cross bow that hooked to his arm band, four net pellets he loaded into his gauntlet, a blade whip. A weapon of his own design he called an arc blade, two dart balls, a disk blade, a small bomb device he hooked to the end of his arm band, and finally a grapple.

The two hunting dogs whimpered because he ordered them to return to their places beside the thrown. When the clan lord was thus armed he made his way to a private capsule that shot down to the planet below. The lasers in the path of the pod bent side ways for the pod to pass through and it landed in the city on the east side near old Harlem. When the clan lord exited the pod he could see several humans making their way to his landing site; he cloaked and climbed a nearby building where he watched.

"Look at this thing…" The Captain said.

"It must be another one of those hunters…"

"Alright its ours now lets hook this baby up to the hover-chopper and get out of here…"

The Clone Lord was watching and listening to everything they said; he flipped his control pad and pressed a few buttons and activated the self destruct on the pod. It blew up killing the men and destroying the chopper.

"I don't think we'll last much longer under these conditions…" A doctor said in a room inside a building with back up power on. He was there along with several others about one hundred and eighteen people. They were in the basement of office complex with the door barricaded.

"We have to keep hope that someone will come for us…" A marine said.

"You hope I will be realistic…" The Doctor was pacing back and forth; he and the people with him had been apart of a convoy that had been attacked by a large group of xenomorphs. The remaining people took refuge in the office complex to escape the xenomorphs, it had been several hours since they had contact with anyone and four marines had left to find help or food. The Doctor grunted; "They should have been back by now…"

"Will you calm down…" The marine said aggravated, "You are upsetting these people…"

Everyone jumped when a knock came at the door; it was a patterned knock as a signal to let the people inside know that they had returned. Three marines and five other men civilians helped them remove the stuff blocking the door. "What took you guys so long… we thought you abandoned us…" The Doctor asked.

"It is worse than we thought sir…" The marine said ignoring the Doctor. The Commander listened along with everyone else what they had discovered, because they had been cut off from the rest of the city since before the hunters arrived. "The entire city is cut off… we managed to find some food…" The marines had bought already packed sandwiches from vending machines they found up the street and when they passed them out the people tore into them.

"Alright everyone listen up…" The commander said, "…I think we should try to make it to the star port…" The moment he said this many people started complaining and voicing their objections. "Look it's either this or stay here… from what my men tell me those serpent things are nowhere in the area…"

Just then a bang came at the door and was followed by numerous pounds on the door. Women started screaming as the marines positioned themselves in front of the door.

"Shit they are going to kill us…" The Doctor kept screaming, but the Commander knocked him unconscious.

The banging on the door was a distraction because the xenomorphs and their new queen was digging up through the building from the sewers beneath. They actually punctured the floor in several weak spots so that floor would collapse into the sewers and the noise was drowning out the digging.

"Daddy I'm scared…" A little boy declared holding tight to his father.

There was a resounding crack and splitting sound then the floor caved in and most of the people fell into the sewers and found themselves surrounded by thirty xenomorphs. A women let our a high pitched scream when she looked up and found herself face to face with a xenomorph who grabbed her and took her down the tunnel.

The marines fired smoke grenades down in the hole in order to give the people a chance, but the smoke was ineffective. One of the xenomorphs leapt up into the room above and killed three marines before they could get a shot off. The commander unleashed a burst of flame and then he fire a controlled burst of gun fire into the head of the xenomorph killing it. The creature squealed in pain as it died. Another xenomorph leapt up and onto the ceiling and he fired his grenade launcher strait up at the xenomorph blowing a hole into the floor above. It was total chaos and pandemonium as the xenomorphs killed off the marines. When it was over the predalien placed her mouth over a women and dumped a load of embryos into her body. It used both men and women.

The Clan Lord tracked the Predalien to the office complex and x-rayed the building from an adjacent building. As it squatted on the ledge two xenomorphs tried to sneak up behind the clan lord, but his mask had a three hundred and sixty degree optic scan; he targeted the two xenomorphs without looking behind and his shoulder cannons spun around and fired killing both. When the two xenomorphs died the Predalien knew what had killed them she escaped through the building instead of the sewers and exited out of the emergency exit.  
The Clan Lord took a bottle of bleach he found in an apartment and entered the building after scanning it. When he did he was attacked by four xenomorphs and killed all four with his shoulder cannons. He then dropped a small metal capsule into the bleach filled with a blue liquid then he ran out of the building. The capsule turned the bottle bleach into a liquid bomb that destroyed the building and everything in it. As he stood in the street looking at the building blow apart the Clan lord was surrounded by sixteen xenomorphs; he unsheathed his wrist blades, took his combstick, and maul to fight them.

While the xenomorphs held off the Clan Lord the Predalien and fifteen xenomorphs made their way to the building where the first group of hunters had protected the humans. The humans were still there and the two hunters were there as well guarding them from the xenomorphs.

The arm cannon hunter was still on the roof when he spotted seven xenomophs about twenty blocks away jumping from roof to roof in plain sight. He targeted the next building calculating the distance and time it would take for his shot to make it to them then he fired the blast killing all seven and destroying three buildings. He scanned the area one last time then he contacted the hunter inside the building, but he failed to notice the Predalien sneaking up behind him; she stabbed him in the back and lifted him into the air; she turned the hunter so that he faced her and hissed at him then she stabbed him in the head with her second mouth and threw the body over the side of the building.

The hunter on the inside roared into his arm band and said something but the arm cannon hunter didn't respond; so he x-rayed the exterior of the building and saw them coming.

"Something is wrong…" The Lt said.

"Yeah but what…" Another marine replied.

Some of the humans the civilians screamed when the hunter shot his plasma cannon at the glass window. Then five xenomorphs came running into the building lobby. The hunter roared and removed two shurikens from his belt and threw them killing one and wounding another. He then targeted one of the xenomorphs and killed it with a plasma blast. He was about to kill the remaining three when the Predalien smashed through the ceiling and landed behind him; she ripped his shoulder cannon off and slashed him across the back with her claws. She then swept his feet from under him with her tail and was about to stab him but the hunter dog jumped on her back clawing biting and scratching. This allowed the remaining xenomorphs to hold the hunter down while the Predalien stabbed the hunting dog with her tail spike and then threw him into the laser grid surrounding the humans.

The humans screamed as the alien dog was diced by the lasers and hit the floor then they watched helplessly as their protector's mask was removed and the Predalien queen placed her mouth over the hunters and injected him with embryos.

"We have to do something…" A man yelled.

"Yeah what… because we are surrounded by this laser grid… they can't get to us so for the moment we are safe…"

"When the time comes…" The commander said interrupting the cop; "…I want everyone to make a run for it…"

"You don't think they will be able to get through the lasers…" A civilian man asked.  
The commander grunted; "Oh I know they can…"

"What are they doing…" A woman asked shielding her daughter.

The humans watched as the hunters stomach grew bigger and bigger and a few minutes later it burst open with eight hybrid xenomorphs. They all had mandibles like the Predalien queen but they were drones like the others and like their queen they grew at a fast rate. The hunter was still alive and there was green blood everywhere; the Predalien stood over the hunter and killed him by stabbing her second mouth into his head. Then she turned her attention to the humans; then she looked at the hunter's arm band; she did this several times and bent low over the arm and opened it.

"Oh shit…" A marine said.

The Commander looked at everyone in the crowd. "Oh shit is right… Everyone get ready to run… Marines we make a stand and let some of these people get away…"

By now the hybrids were their full height and the queen sent them to find the creature hunting her. As they left she bent over the arm band and began tapping buttons and eventually the laser grid shuts off. The marines boldly attacked the xenomorphs with their hands in order to allow the civilians to escape. One of the xenomorphs jumped over them and tackled the woman whose daughter had been saved by the hunters.

"Mom…" the girl screams as another woman snatches the girl up and runs for the exit. The marines only lasted a few seconds against the xenomorphs as they ran down some of the civilians and dragged them back to the Predalien queen; who was standing over the woman whose daughter had been saved. The woman trembled as the Predalien placed it's mouth over hers and injected her with embryos.

The clan lord was running up the street when he spotted a new hybrid; a Predalien drone smaller than the queen, but bigger than your regular xenomorph. It hissed at him and the clan lord roared back. They charged another and slammed their bodies into each other. They tussled back and forth on the ground and the hybrid tried to stab him in the back with it's tail, but he unsheathed his claws at the last minute and cut a huge portion of the xenomorph's tail. The clan lord wound up on top after another role across the ground; he raised his wrist blades and was about to stab the hybrid when another hybrid came flying through the air from off the side of a building.  
The clan lord's mask had a three hundred and sixty degree scanner so he saw the hybrid coming. He raised the hybrid he was fighting with over his head turned and threw it in the direction of the approaching hybrid. When their bodies slammed into each other the clan lord fired both his shoulder cannons killing them both at once. As acid blood and body parts rained down on the area another hybrid tried to attack the clan lord who took out his combstick and stabbed the creature as it was flying towards him; he bought the hybrid up and over and pinned him to the ground with his combstick. Four hybrids attacked at the same time while he had the third hybrid pinned to the ground. He aimed left and right from his mask and fired his shoulder cannons at the same time; the fourth and fifth hybrids were blown apart at the same time. He left the third hybrid pinned to the ground by his combstick and removed two shurikens from his belt; he turned sideways and threw them in the direction of the charging hybrids. The seventh got his head severed and its body hit the ground and slid three feet, but sixth hybrid twisted its body and snatched the shuriken out of the air and threw it back at the clan lord. He targeted the weapon and destroyed it with a shot from his right shoulder cannon.  
The clan lord switched scans as he searched for the hybrid; with his feet spread wide apart he looked from side to side and on the side of buildings x-raying signs that the creature may be hiding behind, but nothing; he removed his whip blade from his belt. Then suddenly the ground beneath him shook and into the sewers he went as cement was broken apart by the eighth hybrid. He dropped his whip but he was able to pump his arm band and fire a net at the hybrid who went flying into the wall and was pinned there as the net constricted on his body. The clan lord took aim and fired both shoulder cannons destroying the hybrid and the net.  
He reached down to grab his blade whip when the sixth hybrid rose up out of the water and with a slash of his right claws removed the left shoulder cannon. He slashed again this time with his left claws knocking the mask off; it dangled by the cord from the right shoulder cannon. The clan lord unsheathed his wrist blades and slashed the face of the hybrid cutting off two of it's face mandibles. Then he used his sonic gauntlet and punched the hybrid who hit the sewer wall dazed. The clan lord took out his arc blade gripping the handle and with a push of the thumb the blade fired from the grip by a grapple line and severed the sixth hybrid at the waist. He then removed his blade disk and threw it at the head; the hybrid's head fell off into the water with a splash. He retracted his arc blade and then recovered his face mask blade disk and combstick. The left shoulder cannon had been ripped from the stand but he was able to restore it to functioning order.

Hundreds of people were running up the street from the xenomorphs and as they ran several marines came on the seen and offered them assistance. They fired into the xenomorphs killing them by the dozens; they began to scatter and reorganize, but the appearance of the clan lord who was cloaked from the sight of the marines caused them to retreat.

"Captain look… they are retreating…"

He sighed in relief, but he and his men were being watched by the clan lord; "Good… lets get these people loaded up…"

A woman holding a sobbing young girl, "There are more people trapped by those things some of them are marines… you have to help them…"

"I am sorry ma'am there is nothing we can do…"

The clan lord watched as the woman's pleas were ignored and all three hundred plus humans were loaded onto air transports and taken to the star port.

The Predalien queen had the drones build two nests one in the building and the second in the sewers. The one in the building was a decoy for the hunters and the second one was the one they were really operating from. The clan lord had x-rayed both hives and went for the sewer hive first; he opened a gas main and let it leek into the hive then he placed a timer on the disk burner and left the sewers. The pilot was lit and the sewers filled with fire in every direction, the embryos screamed as they burned alive along with a few humans who still had embryos inside them.

The Predalien queen had barely escaped the sewers in time; she did with a few burns on the right side of her body. The glass was shattered as two dart balls were thrown into the center of the hive in the lobby of the building. The darts spread out in every direction killing the very young xenomorphs and wounding the older ones. The Predalien was hit by two darts as two shurikens came flying into the lobby. The Predalien snatched a xenomorph off the ground and used it as a shield; the blade split its head open splattering acid blood everywhere.  
The Clan Lord blew a hole into the building and stood in the hole roaring at the Predalien; nine of the thirty-one xenomorphs left alive charged the clan lord. Three of them ran across the ceiling while the rest across the floor; he locked on to all nine and then from his mask placed all targets into his blade disk and threw it. The blade disk lit up as it buzzed through the air slicing through each xenomorph one after the other. As the blade disk returned to his hand a xenomorph landed behind the clan lord he leaned to the side as the blade disk approached and let it fly past him. It stuck into the chest of the xenomorph and as it stumbled backwards he unsheathed his wrist blades spun around and severed it's head killing it.  
The clan lord turned and faced the onslaught of xenomorphs coming at him and roared. He targeted two xenomophs and fired his shoulder cannon; blowing both to pieces. He killed another two and another; then he fired a double blast at the Predalien who was watching her drones die at the hands of the clan lord. A xenomorph dove in front of the two plasma balls sacrificing itself for the queen as she left the building with eight xenomorphs accompanying her for protection. There were only ten xenomorphs left attacking the clan lord not to mention the others in the building on other floors. Eight were charging him at the same time; he took out his arc blade again and shot the blade when it reached ten feet the blade disconnected into eight smaller blades that were also attached to smaller lines. They punctured the xenomorphs and he retracted the blade all the way back to the handle dragging them along; the blade was now whole and impaled all eight xenomorphs and with one slash he severed all eight at the torso. The last three were able to tackle him but the clan lord threw his hand up and a grapple line fired from his arm gauntlet. They dropped from his body as he smashed through six floors and stopped at the ceiling of the sixth floor. He removed the small device from the end of his gauntlet and dropped it then he ran to the window with another five xenomorphs after him. The clan lord smashed through the window and leapt to the adjacent and climbed up the side of the building. The building containing the hive exploded at the first three levels and the building collapsed. The clan lord made it to the roof with the five xenomorphs still chasing him; they squared off on the roof and he killed two with his shoulder cannons one with his combstick. He wounded one with his wrist blades and netted the last xenomorph that went tumbling over the side of the building; he shot the wounded xenomorph with a spike from his arm gauntlet and looked over the side of the building as the netted xenomorph fell fifty stories down he targeted it and fired both shoulder cannons and blew it and the net away spraying the side of the building with acid blood. He roared a victory and via a sky drone located the Predalien and went after it.

The Predalien had gone thirty blocks running through the ally ways when two plasma bolts blew out the side of a building and two red targeting lights scanned the rubble above; if she climbed over the rubble the clan lord would fire she had to turn back and into the street. She tried to climbed the side of the building but it to was blown out and one of the xenomorphs following her was killed by falling debris. She hissed in frustration and she and her drones walked into the street and when she did the clan lord jumped down from twenty stories and landed fifty feet in front of them. The clan lord removed his last two shurikens and threw them killing two xenomorphs; he killed the next two with his shoulder cannons and the last he killed with his arm cross bow.

The Predalien and Clan Lord faced off and roared at each other; then the clan lord removed his shoulder cannons after he disconnected them from his face mask. Then he removed his weapon belt and finally his shoulder pack. He unsheathed his wrist blade and his hand knife and they squared off against one another. They charged one another and the Predalien shouldered the clan lord knocking him to the ground. When he hit the ground the clan lord shot his wrist blade at the Predalien; it stuck in her shoulder. As she howled in pain a pair of wrist blades flipped forward and e jumped to his feet.

They clawed and slashed as one another inflicting damage on each other; the clan lord was slashed across the mask; the upper left shoulder; his leg and a stab to the gut from her tail. The Predalien received slashes in the face, the chest, and forearm; she also lost a head tail. They wrestled back and forth on the ground and the clan lord managed to pick her up and throw her into the side of the building cracking it. She landed on all fours then she back flipped onto the side of the building and leapt at the clan lord who dropped to his back and as the Predalien was passing over him he reached up with his dagger and slit her throat. The Predalien hit the ground with a sickening thud and slid five feet. The clan lord got to his feet and cautiously approached the Predalien who tried to stab him with her tail. He caught the tail with his hand and severed it with his hand knife; then he stabbed the Predalien in the back with his wrist blades until she died.

The clan lord then removed her head from her body and began cleaning it until he had a new trophy to show off. He then collected his weapons and gear and cloaked as he started running towards central park where the shuttle was.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24. Blade and Cannon

The blade hunter went out on his third hunt for the remaining xenomorphs. Who were protecting the last facehuggers because one of them could be a potential queen. They cocooned several humans but didn't allow them to impregnate the humans until they dealt with the hunters. To insure success they sent several dozen xenomorphs to kill the last two hunters from the first group and to kill the hunter prince and his group.

The blade hunter was traveling north when he was confronted by two dozen xenomorphs; he took out two shurikens and threw them killing two xenomorphs and they all charged him at once. The blade hunter managed to uncoil his blade whip and kill three more before they tackled him. As the xenomorphs ganged up on him the blade hunter shot a net at one of the drones then he unsheathed his blades and stabbed two more gutting them. The blade hunter thought that he was about to die when a blade disk whizzed by decapitating six of the xenomorphs allowing the blade hunter to get up. He unsheathed his wrist blades swinging left and right as he was joined by the hunter who killed hats.

As the blade hunter threw shurikens and used his blades the shoulder cannon hunter fired his cannon and threw one of his bolos. The explosion killed the remaining xenomorphs; the blade hunter and shoulder cannon hunter stood back to back with the corpses of xenomorphs surrounding them. They were about to leave together when another two dozen xenomorphs attacked them. The cannon hunter pulled out two dart balls and threw them at the oncoming drones; five of them went down and another three were wounded. The blade hunter threw the shurikens he recovered from the first fight; then he fired one of his three remaining nets. He saved his bow caster and unsheathed his blades and charged the xenomorphs as the cannon hunter fired his cannon. The battle lasted another twenty minutes and it was over.

With the death of their comrades the xenomorphs were growing desperate and decided to allow the facehuggers to impregnate the humans then they split in groups of two and three and allowed a hundred behind to guard the new queen. What they didn't realize is that they were being watched by a sky drone. The drone left the area and flew to the cannon hunter who convinced the blade hunter to allow him to attach his bomb device to the drone and then they would split up and go after the remaining xenomorphs. He agreed and the drone was sent back with the bomb attached and it blew up killing the new queen and the one hundred drones. With the death of the last queen all the facehuggers and eggs were dead.

The blade hunter and cannon hunter separated to find and kill the last of the xenomorphs in the city. They divided the city between the two of them; the blade hunter took everything north and south heading west and the cannon hunter took everything north and south heading east; it was a lot of territory to cover but the two of them could handle it.

The cannon hunter scanned a building with humans running from three xenomorphs. A woman screamed and crawled across the floor a xenomorph hissed as it approached her. She jumped and screamed as a camouflaged glassy looking weapon sprouted through the creature's chest and it was hoisted into the air and slammed into the wall. The silhouette form stood over the dead creature and a pair of glowing eyes stared down at the woman and left. The cannon hunter scanned through the wall and saw a xenomorph repeatedly stabbing a man with its second mouth. He pumped his arm band and fired a spike through the wall killing it and that is when the third xenomorph smashed through the ceiling. The cannon hunter spun around unsheathing his wrist blade and decapitated the xenomorph. He then poured a blue substance over the dead corpse and the other bodies then he left.

The cannon hunter left the building and was traveling for the next three hours before he came upon the next two xenomorphs. The sun was coming up when the hunter killed the xenomorphs with his shoulder cannon. He was dissolving the bodies when he was netted by a steel net fired from a hover chopper. The hunter cut the net and cloaked from the sight of the marines. "Blow the building…" A marine on the ground ordered.

The hover chopper fired two missiles at the building leveling it. Then it spread the surrounding buildings with gun fire. One of the marines on the ground was stabbed from behind and the remaining eleven marines fired wildly in all directions. The chopper was blown up by a plasma blast and then two marines were killed by shurikens. The forth marine was stabbed and split in half by his maul. The next two were decapitated by the twin blades of the maul and the remaining marines were killed by shoulder cannon. The hunter was hit by three rounds from an ACAU; the hunters cloak flashed, sparked and he became visible. The ACAU operator fired his blow torch as the hunter roared and ran and jumped over the rubble of the building. When the ACAU flew over the rubble the hunter had vanished; the operator scanned the area in infrared, but he got nothing. His screen was filled by a bright blue flash and the ACAU exploded.

The blade hunter was also being tracked by some humans waking through the streets. They had an ACAU with them as well so he took out his blade disk and targeted the left leg of the ACAU and then he marked four marines. He threw the disk and as it buzzed through the air it became visible the weapon cut through the leg of the ACAU then it whip around and decapitated one of the marines and then it split the second at the torso. The third man had his skull split open and the last man got his arm removed but he was still alive. "Spread out back to back…" the Commander ordered then he was decapitated as the blade disk returned to the hand of the blade hunter he scanned the remaining marines and threw the blade disk again and killed another five marines. It took another fifteen minutes to kill the remaining marines then he returned to hunting the xenomorphs.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25. Blood Pact

The remaining xenomorphs were being hunted down by the blade hunter and another hunter from the first group; the one who took the xenomorph sample back to the shuttle and killed Hats. They met up and hunted the remaining xenomorphs together running from one end of the city to the other. While they mopped up the Hunter Prince lead the remaining four hunters, Ripley, Johner, and Call to their ship in central park.

"Don't they ever get tired…" Johner said trying to keep up with their pace.

When they arrived at the ship Johner dropped to ground exhausted, while the Hunter Prince exchanged words with the operator. Then he made a plan with Ripley to go after the order of light base.

Johner pulled Ripley to the side and whispered; "You are getting chummy with your new friends…"

She looked at him for a second; "So…" was her only response.

Johner was mad and he didn't hide it; "So… Ripley they killed Hats…"

She sighed; "I don't know what to say… if they killed him it is because he was a worthy challenge to hunt…"

Johner couldn't believe his ears; "Is that all you have to say…"

"Hats was a great guy and I am going to miss him… I really respected him…"

"But you're not going to shed a tear… We owe him better than that…" He said the last part screaming.

"What do you want to do Johner because they tried to kill me too, but I killed one of them and its brother challenged me to a duel… I beat him and they seemed to have dropped it… if you want to settle a score with them I am sure they are willing to oblige you…"

Call came up and placed a gentle hand on Johner's shoulder; "Let it go…"

He shrugged her off; the hunters had been listening the whole time and the Hunter Prince was standing in front off of the other three hunters. "It is time…" He said in a gurgled voice.

"Lets do this…" Johner said.

"The two of you are staying hear…"

"The hell we are…" Johner said.

"Ripley…" Call yelled.

She looked at the hunter prince who nodded no; "I am sorry the two of you are staying here…" Before they could make another protest the hunter operator shackled both Call and Johner while Ripley and the hunters broke out into a run. Call tried to break her restraints but she couldn't.

"Ripley…" She stopped to look at her, "…My brother try to."

She smiled; "I know…" Ripley replied and broke off into a run behind the hunters.

"What time is it?" Johner asked two hours had passed since Ripley left with the hunters.

"Five minutes later than the last time you asked…" The sun was coming up and the operator was scanning the area for any xenomorphs when he stopped his scanning and walked down the ramp as a glassy camouflaged figure materialized in front of them.

Johner and Call looked at the humanoid who was taller and built heavier than the others. He had smaller spikes under his mandibles and the front of his face mask was made of bone. In his hand was a hybrid skull that was a cross between an alien and a humanoid. He had a cannon on each shoulder and an elaborate combstick in his hand.

"He must be the leader…" Call whispered to Johner as the two humanoids exchanged words.

The hunter operator explained to the clan lord that his son had made a pack with the hybrid human and the two humans shackled to the landing gear of the shuttle and that they were going after the artificial humans at their base. The clan lord walked up the ramp of the ship and placed his trophy in the case then he came back down the ramp and ran in the direction his son went.

Ripley and the humanoids had gone twenty miles across the city before they entered the sewers. When they entered the sewers they encountered five xenomorphs that had been hiding; they quickly eliminated them and continued on their journey to the android base. The hunters had allowed Ripley to keep the blade she took from the first hunter she killed and they gave her an energy based gun she had to carry with both hands. The weapon was really heavy and if it hadn't been for her enhanced strength she would have dropped it a long time ago. The entire weapon was made of metal and resembled a bulky flame thrower. It had a power clip and three thick power lines running from the barrel of the gun to the butt of the gun.  
As for being among the humanoids they treated her as if she was one of them and for the first time in her life she felt comfortable.

Their group didn't encounter any more xenomorphs on their journey as they made their way through the sewers. The hunter prince raised his hand and made a fist. The other humanoids dropped to one knee as he switched on his camouflage. Ripley could see through his cloak and she watched him enter the next tunnel and plug his arm com into a device on the wall. He deactivated all the traps and defenses in between them and the main entrance to the android base; he deactivated his cloak and continued on.

Order of Light Base:

"The hunters have defeated the xenomorphs…" Able said to the council members. "…Not only have they killed all the xenomorphs they are here in the sewers and have deactivated our defense system… the Ripley Clone is with them as well…"

The council members started yelling their questions at Able and it was Torren who yelled;

"Well shouldn't we evacuate and activate base two…"

He raised his hand and the council members grew quiet; "Base two is already operating… sadly it is too late to leave and even if we could the laser grid still surrounds the city…" He reached into his pocket and removed a small device.

"Then we have failed and it is all over with…"

"You are right… it is over for all of you…" He hit the button on the device after placing some head phones over his ears; the device sent out a signal that caused the council members to grab their ears and grind their teeth. White fluid came from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth then they fell over; while others collapse across the table. When it was over Able crushed the device in his hand and left the conference room and made his way to the command center.  
"Is the prototype on line…" He asked to the operator.

"Yes sir and operating at one hundred percent… all devices are coordinating with the xenomoprh and the telemanic-optic transceiver is functioning well.

"Excellent… where are the hunters?"

"Motion detectors place them in the main tunnel to the entrance sir…"

"Have all combat personnel cover the entrance… go to base wide red alert…"

While the red alert sounded throughout the base Able made his way to lab three where the cyborg was hidden. He activated the cyborg and programmed it to attack all base intruders and try to collect a DNA sample from the hybrid clone. When he was done he sent a message to base two about the situation. Android soldiers got into lines covering the main entrance; they were armed with military grade plasma riffle; they had four battle borgs and six ACAUs.

Over two hundred Android soldiers covered the door.

Ripley and the humanoids stood outside the door and the Hunter Prince had one of the hunters plant a bomb on the door that was twenty feet high and hidden by a hologram. When the bomb was planted they took cover and went into camouflage while Ripley took cover behind the corner. The hunters roared as they detonated the bomb.

As soon as the hole in the door was cleared a hail of bullets was fired by the Androids. The humanoids were cloaked and Ripley was peeking at the opening from behind the corner. She watched the Hunter Prince leap over the androids and decapitate one of them and plasma blast the next. Another hunter jumped into the group of Androids and stabbed him with his comstick. One of the hunter dogs ran through a hail of bullets and tackled an android; another android tried to shoot the hunter dog, but it ran and jumped over another android and shooter wound up shooting the android the dog jumped over.

Ripley rolled out from behind cover and fired the gun the hunters gave her; with an aimed shot she blew away three androids. "Oh I love this gun…" She said looking at it. Ripley ran into the base slashing the throat of an android then she jumped into the air and fired again. The android's entire top half was blown apart; when she landed Ripley landed in front of an ACAU. She spun around and fired point blank into the ACAU; the explosion threw her back a few feet and left a hole a foot in circumference in the ACAU; it fell backwards.

As the ACAU hit the floor the arm cannon hunter pointed his arm cannon at the second level and blew apart the communications room along with six other rooms. The androids were completely overwhelmed by the ferocity of the hunters and Ripley was just as ferocious and merciless as they were. A hunter dog smashed through a glass and a few seconds later the dog was thrown out of the same window. The main doors to the lab opened up and the cyborg walked out of the room carrying an m-zero mini gun and scanning the threat assessment of Ripley. The cyborg's optic scan switched to infrared allowing it to see through camouflage shields of the hunters. He started shooting causing the hunters to dive behind cover; the hunter dog was shot until it died and then it turned its gun at Ripley who fired her gun as dove behind a desk where the hunter prince was.

The plasma blast she fired put a big hole in the cyborg's abdomen missing the heart by inches. As it fell to its back Ripley and the hunters broke cover, but the hole she placed in the cyborg was closing up. "What the hell…" Ripley said. The hunter prince scanned the cyborg and saw nano-nites repairing the damage to the flesh. The cyborg stood up and as it did the hunter prince withdrew a shuriken from his belt and threw it; the shuriken decapitated the cyborg's head. Ripley thought the cyborg would die, but the body remained on its feet and walked over to the head and placed it back on its shoulders; the nano-nites reattached the head and the hunter prince scanned the cyborg in more detail and targeted the cyborg's heart he powered up his shoulder cannon and fired; this time the cyborg fell to its back and died.  
Ripley made her way through the base shooting anything that moved; she fired her plasma blast into the armory and jumped up to the second level when the explosion hit. An android jumped down in front of her and she kicked it over the rail and as it fell to the first level she fired and blew the android apart. She turned down a hall and found a stairway that lead to the tram that was getting ready to leave. Ripley fired her gun and derailed the tram; gritting her teeth she fired her gun on the tram cars. A clawed hand touched her on the shoulder; it was the cannon hunter who fired his arm cannon on the tram and blew it apart; he fired again as the blast wave made Ripley stumble backwards, but she didn't fall.

The hunter prince blew the door of its track and entered the conference room; the council members were dead. He switched off his cloak and walked around the table; he grabbed the collar of one of an android and gave it a good scan over to discover why it was already dead. As the hunter prince scanned the android an android soldier came into the door shooting and screaming. The hunter prince took two rounds in the shoulder before he dove to the floor and cloaked. When the android came around the table he fired his gun at the floor and hit nothing. The android screamed again and fired wildly across the room in a three hundred and sixty degree spin; he even shot at the ceiling and hit nothing but air. There was a purring growl and the androids head came off after a click and snick off metal being drawn. White android fluid splattered across the silhouette form of the hunter prince, the floor, and table.

Ripley left the cannon hunter to search for Call's brother, but she didn't find him. As she passed an office a fist struck her in the face and knocked her gun from her hands. She tried to draw her forty-five hundred, but the attacker grabbed her gun and crushed it in his hand. He grabbed Ripley by the throat and raised her into the air choking her. She scratched her assailant on the arms and when that didn't work she bashed his arms until she was released; as she was falling she stuck her legs out and dropped kicked the android. Ripley rubbed her throat as she got a good look at her attacker. "Ash…" She cried.

The android laughed; "No I am not the Ash you knew from the Nostromo… consider me a descendant of his… I am the leader… I am Able…"  
"Where is Call's brother… tell me and I will give you the quick death you deserve…"

"He is fulfilling my destiny…"

Ripley was trying to distract Able because hunter prince was sneaking up behind him with his wrist blades already drawn, but Able turned and grabbed the hunter and raised him over his head and threw him over the side of the balcony, but the hunter prince landed on his feet. As he was falling Ripley leapt onto Able's back trying to claw his eyes out, but Able managed to catch her hands. He slammed her into the wall; it was like being in a trash compacter; Able was unnaturally stronger than any android Ripley had ever fought. He was even stronger than the general she fought in the Rebel Core base. Able reached back and wrenched Ripley off of his back and raised her above his head and threw her. When Ripley came out of her role she looked up; she found Able holding the gun the hunters gave her.

"You can't beat me… I am the greatest android ever built… I am the sum total of the AI that used to run Wayland-Yutani before it fell over two hundred years ago…"

Ripley didn't flinch in the face of what she thought was her death, but a shuriken flew past her line of sight and severed Able's arm and with a clang able looked at the hunter prince who had been watching the whole time. Ripley leapt of the floor and kicked Able; as he stumbled backwards she landed next to his severed arm still attached to the gun; she picked it up and shot Able in the head and then the chest; as the white android fluid splattered across the walls the hunter prince and Ripley saluted each other.

The order of light base was in ruins; there were fires hear and there every android in the base had been killed and one of the hunters was tending to the wounded hunting dog. The other hunter dog was dragging an android body across the floor; its face was bitten off; its arms were missing and its stomach was gutted.

All three labs had been destroyed with the exception of a hidden lab behind a closed door. The hunter prince ordered one of the other hunters to open up the door and when they did a black oblong sphere rose up out the ground. The sphere was metal and it had vertical ridges on it; the metal was so dense the hunters couldn't scan through it and the cannon hunter was about to blast it when the hunter prince stopped him. An alarm sounded and the sphere opened up.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26. Cyber Alien

When the sphere opened up Ripley gasped because there was a xenomorph inside, but the xenomorph had metal armor on its upper legs and arms; its chest was covered by metal and computer devices with power cords running over the shoulder and onto its back. The xenomorph had an artificial tail in addition to its real one; the artificial tail had glowing ridges and a tip like a laser cutter only bigger and more powerful. Ripley tried to sense the xenomorph but something was scrambling her telepathy. As for the hunters they could scan the thing but couldn't lock onto it because something the xenomorph had scrambled their targeting system. The xenomorphs head was covered by a metal plate and there was a device attached to the right side of its head; a sonic device that controlled it and fed telescopic computer information on the targets it was ordered to kill.

"They made a cyborg…" Ripley declared as the arm cannon hunter pointed his cannon at the cyber alien, but it uncoiled it's tail from its position.

Before the hunter could fire it's cannon the cyber alien fired a blue laser from its tail and split the hunter in half down the middle. Ripley and the other three hunters ran for cover as the cyber alien fired again, but the hunter dog jumped and tried to tackle the cyber alien who caught it out of the and broke his neck.

The wounded hunter dog also charged the cyber alien, but the cyber alien fired a metal spike from its back and impaled the dog as it flew threw the air. As it hit the ground with a thud the cyber alien scanned the area and fired its laser again. One of the hunters lost his shoulder cannon and broke cover throwing a shuriken at the cyber alien who caught the shuriken out of the air and bent it. The hunter prince fired a net at the cyber alien but it fired its laser at the net cutting it in half and wounding the hunter prince on right upper arm. As the cyber alien walked through a pool of green blood and the two halves of the cannon hunter he left a trail of foot prints. Leaving the lab the hunter prince fired a manual shot from his shoulder cannon without the aid of his lock on. The shot missed as the cyber alien leapt onto the wall and then jumped tackling the hunter prince; they wrestled on the floor for a few seconds when the cyber alien picked up the hunter prince and threw him. As he flew through the air the cyber alien was getting ready to fire his laser tail again when it was cut off by another hunter using his maul. The cyber alien shot two spikes from his back into the shoulder and stomach of the hunter then he stabbed the hunter with his tail spike; the cyber alien twisted the hunter around and stabbed the hunter in the back of his head with its second mouth.

Ripley fired her gun and the blast splattered across the cyber alien's body electrifying its cybernetics. Its optic scan was scrambled as it tried to target Ripley with its back spikes. The cyber alien fired wildly and caught Ripley in the leg, but the spike fell out dissolved by the acid blood. The cyber alien was about to charge Ripley when it was netted from behind by another hunter. He jumped at the cyber alien who had cut through the net with it's claws; the cyber alien stuck out its tail like a spear. The hunter twisted to the side in mid air and unsheathed his wrist blades cutting the spike off at the tip. When he landed on his feet the cyber alien twisted his head and from a small pipe on the side of its mouth; it spit acid blood into the chest and face mask of the hunter. With it's tail he swept the hunter's feet from under him and sprayed more acid onto the hunter killing him.

The only humanoid left was the hunter prince who jumped onto the cyber alien's back and stabbed it in the head with his hand blade and with his clawed hand he ripped the sonic device from its head. The cyber alien went berserk and stabbed the hunter prince with its back spikes. He was about to spray the hunter prince in the face when Ripley leapt over him and drop kicked the cyber alien in the face. The cyber alien stumbled backwards and as it did Ripley leaned backwards and caught the hunter prince's combstick out of the air. She stabbed at the cyber alien, but he caught the weapon and slung it with Ripley still holding it; unable to hold the combstick Ripley was flung across the floor twelve feet. The cyber alien threw the combstick and jumped on Ripley; they wrestled back and forth, but the cyber alien was too strong and all Ripley could do was move her head from side to side to avoid the cyber aliens second mouth. It spit acid in Ripley's face to blind her because her skin was immune to the acid. As Ripley struggled she heard a loud metal crunch and the eerie synthesized screams of the cyber alien; then she heard the undeniable roar of the hunter prince. Ripley cleansed the acid blood from her eyes just in time to see the hunter prince blast the cyber alien in the chest with his shoulder cannon; the cyber alien was thrown by the force of the blast six feet and hit the ground. It tried to stand but Ripley leapt over to the cyber alien and slammed its head into the floor with all her might. Then she screamed as she jabbed her claw like nails through the metal and into the cyber aliens head and it was over.

Ripley's breathing was heavy as she stood up and looked over to the hunter prince who also tried to stand but he fell back to his knees and onto his stomach. Ripley limped over to the hunter prince and dropped to her knees; he had three spikes from the cyber alien in his stomach. She cautiously removed each spike and threw them to the side then she removed his face mask. He spit up green blood and stared into her eyes and nodded in approval to her.

Ripley smiled and they both looked at the now dead cyber alien; "Your not a bad fighter… you know…"

He looked at her and gurgled spitting up blood; "You arr… gooood fight… rrrr…"

"You know what… you're not a bad looking humanoid…" The hunter prince reached for her arm and interlocked with her arm like the warriors they were; to show respect. After a few seconds he pointed to his combstick. When Ripley tried to place it in his hand he shoved it into her hand and said something in his language. "What does that mean…" She asked as he closed his eyes and breathed his last.

A purring growl came from behind and an alien voice said; "It means blood sister…" Startled Ripley jumped up and spun around to face the glassy silhouette form behind her. It materialized into the form of the clan lord who removed his face mask and roared at Ripley, but she didn't flinch. He nodded in approval and knelt beside his son.

Ripley was impressed by the humanoid kneeling down next to the hunter prince. She could tell he was far older than any other humanoid she had seen and he had an impressive array of body scars. He knelt beside his son making a mournful purr; then he stood up and flipped up his wrist com and gave some orders into his com. It took an hour for another shuttle to fly down from the mother ship and a group of humanoids to collect the body of the hunter prince. Ripley thought the clan lord would fly back with his son's body but he remained with her. When they left the underground base he returned his attention to Ripley.

"You will come with us…"

Ripley was speechless and didn't know what to think; a part of her wanted to go and if she was interpreting the situation right then the clan lord was adopting her into his clan. Ripley never felt at ease around humans for the fact that she was a hybrid and not quit human. If she accepted the clan lord's offer then there was a less likely chance of someone getting her DNA sample and if she went with the hunters she could probably learn the origin of the xenomorphs and end them once and for all.

The clan lord waited patiently for her response as she mentally weighed all her options and Ripley finally responded the way he had hoped. "Yes I will come with you…" The clan lord placed an approving hand on her shoulder and they left the base and made their way back to the shuttle.

Star Port:

The star port was over crowded with citizens who had been evacuated to the star port for safety. Janice, Agent Keller, and her advisors made their way to the star port security tower that had been remade into a war room. When Janice reached the control room the President was online waiting for her.

"Mr. President… we believe it is over… from the street holocams all over the city the humanoids seem to be collecting their dead and lost weapons… I don't believe we will be able to collect any blood samples from them… they are also destroying all the bodies of the xenomorphs…"

The President sighed; "Let's stay out of their way… if it is over with then let them leave in peace and continue to monitor Weyland-Yutani…"

"Yes sir…"

Janice switched off the transmitter and was about to go and rest in her private quarters when an agent came up to her and whispered in her ear. She followed the agent to a private hanger where a marine gave her a DNA sample; a DNA sample of Ellen Ripley.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27. Respect and Farewell

The humanoids piled the bodies of the xenomorphs and melted them with a lot of blue liquid bio-dissolvent. They made sure all their DNA and weapons were collected and then they returned to the shuttle in the park. Johner and Call watched as the operator kept going up and down the ramp and then they watched as the sky drones flew to the ship and land on the grass in front of the ramp.

Call looked at Johner; "I think it is over with…"

"Me too… but what is going to happen to us and where is Ripley?"

Call pointed as she spotted Ripley following the hunter who came to the ship after Ripley left with the hunter prince; "Look here she comes…"

"Good she made it…" Johner declared.

When Ripley reached the shuttle she spent the next hour or so telling Johner and Call what happened when she and the humanoids attacked the order of light base. As she spoke the clan lord and the operator listened to her tale and she got the impression they were more interested in the exploits of the hunter prince so Ripley told what she did and what she witnessed the humanoids do.

When she finished the clan lord and the operator went up the ramp; "What are they waiting for?" Johner asked.

"There are still two of their comrades in the city but they are on the way…"

Call walked around and stood in front of Ripley; "You never said anything, so I will ask… what happened to my brother?"

Ripkey sighed; "I don't really know Call… When I confronted Able about your brother he said that he was fulfilling his destiny or Able's destiny…" She placed a hand on her shoulder, "…I'm sorry."

Call smiled; "What shall be shall be…"

A noise interrupted them and the two humanoids materialized as they ran towards the shuttle. The only two survivors of the fourteen hunters that shuttled down with the operator; they were almost as old as the clan lord. As Johner got a good look at the humanoid on the right he noticed a skull mounted on his shoulder and one of Hats' caps on the skull.

"Son of a bitch!" He yelled trying to attack the humanoid, but Ripley held Johner at bay.

"Let me go… that bastard killed Hats…"

The hunter unsheathed his wrist blades and his blade to fight, but Ripley held Johner back. "I'm not going to watch you die… if he kills you… I will kill him… NO! Johner I said no…"

Johner still wouldn't back down so Ripley jabbed him in the leg and he fell panting and holding his injured leg.

"You bitch!" Johner said between breaths.

"Yeah that's right… besides you and Call have to carry on the fight…"

Both Johner and Call looked at Ripley; "What do you mean?" Call asked suspiciously.

Ripley looked back up the ramp and the clan lord standing there watching; "They have invited me to come along with them… and I've decided to go with them…"

"Why…" They asked at the same time.

"I don't belong here and besides if I go with the humanoids I might get another chance at the xenomorphs… and even learn their origin…"

With Call's help Johner stood up and stared at Ripley; "I will miss you…" They hugged; then Ripley and Call stared at each other. "I love you…" Call said.

She grabbed Call and gave her a big hug, "I love you too little sister…"

That is when the clan lord walked down the ramp and gave Johner his combstick. Shocked all Johner could say was: "Thank you…"

The clan lord then turned his attention to Call and gave her his hand blade. "Come…" He said to Ripley and together they walked up the ramp and not once did Ripley look back. The ship took off and as it did the lasers switched off and the satellites disconnected and returned to the mother ship. The whole time Johner and Call stood watching then the two of them were picked up by Rebel Core agents and they left the city.

The city had been totally cleansed of the xenomorphs and the dead humanoids.

The White House:

Janice was finally able to leave New York after helping Governor Torvelli organize the clean up and city wide relief effort. When she was done Janice made her way to Washington to speak with the President and give her report. When she entered the office Director Jameson and Admiral Wellington were already there waiting.

She handed each of them a copy of her report on reader disk; "My full report sir…"

"Military intelligence reports that the Ripley clone may have left with the humanoids…"

"Yes my people are of the same opinion…" Janice reached into her coat pocket; "We did get the consolation prize…"

"What's this…" The President asked taking a small glass box with hair inside.

"That sir is a DNA sample from the Ripley clone…"

He handed the hair sample to Jameson; "Take that to science division… tell them to analyze it and do some simulation trial runs… I have to speak with the advisory committee…"

They talked about security and the Russians and Chinese who were now begging to rejoin the coalition. The Indian and North African governments wanted to maintain their independence. Admiral Wellington expressed his feelings about implementing the super soldier program immediately.

"Excuse me sir…" said the President's chief aid entering the office. "…The Exocron and the Leviathan have returned to earth."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28. Return of the Exocrone

Once again the Exocrone had come back to life with men and women preparing for shore leave or reassignment, because of the mission the most of the crew would be reassigned to CCIA or military intelligence. When the Exocrone and the Leviathan came within visual range of earth the crews of both ships were stunned by the decimated remains of an entire fleet division. The bridge crews of both ships watched as the automated salvage ships dragged huge pieces of debris from orbit.

"What in the world could have done that to an entire fleet division…" Captain Lee asked looking at Saurito.

"Copy that…" the com officer said into his mike; "…Captain priority one message from the President; he's on a secure channel for you."

Captain Lee stood up; "I will take it in my office…"

When Lee left the bridge Saurito got up and went to her quarters where she patched a remote line into the satellite to contact the Rebel Core. "This is Maxine Saurito… agent code name… alley cat… access code four one two dash echo r c four…"

She waited ten minutes before a miniature hologram of Johner appeared; "Go ahead alley cat…"

"Begging your pardon sir, but where is Daniel…"

"He is dead… I will explain everything later, but first we have a mission for you…"

Captain's Office:

"It's unbelievable sir…" Captain Lee said after the President told him about the incident with the androids, the Rebel Core, the xenomorphs and the humanoids.

"But true Captain… Tell me about Saurito can she be trusted?"

"More or less… She is unlike any corporate officer I have ever met… I think she can be trusted sir…"

"If we gave her a mission… do you think she would do it?"

"I could ask… if she says no…"

"She is going to have an accident…" The President studied him for a while before asking; "…Do you have a problem with that captain?"

He swallowed hard and lied; "No sir…"

When the President told Lee what he wanted Captain Lee made his way to Saurito's cabin. She had just finished talking with Johner before the chime at her door sounded and she gave Captain Lee permission to enter.

"I have a request from the President…"

She smiled; "You mean an order…"

"He wants all the information you can give him on Weyland-Yutani… specifically what the x-core project is… agents on the inside of Weyland have discovered something called project peach…"

Saurito sighed; "The x-core project… is centered around an alien fossil discovered in the waters near Barritorea near the north pole… a xenomorph queen fossil… Weyland is trying to use a DNA sample to clone the thing… but all tests have proven unsuccessful… I don't know what project peach is, but I do know they only discuss it on line thirty-one… you will have to hack the system to find out what they are planning… as for me… I am about to tell you something that if the wrong people knew about this… I would be dead in two seconds…" He looked at her in concern as she got closer then kissed him then she whispered into his ear.

Lee stood up; "And you expect me to trust you…"

"You do what you have to and so will I… I don't know who to trust myself and I need help to pull my mission off…"

"Why me?" Lee asked.

"Because I like you… two you ask for my help and I gave it… if I would have said no the President would have had me bumped off or replaced… I scratch your back and now you scratch mine…"

"My career…" Lee said.

"Won't suffer… Now we have an hour before docking at gate way station… why don't we use that time wisely…" She kissed him.

When they docked Captain Lee shuttled down to the planet with Saurito; their destination the White House; when they arrived Captain Lee and Saurito met with the President, Admiral Wellington, and Director Jameson where she told them about the x-core project and her involvement with the Rebel Core.

"We believe Weyland-Yutani has designs for the Coalition… the leadership structure of the Rebel Core has changed dramatically…"

"Is it true the Ripley clone went with the humanoids?" Jameson asked.

"Yes…"

The President looked at Admiral Wellington who nodded his approval; he then returned his attention to Saurito. "What you ask of us is… hard and if anyone finds out that I am involved with the Rebel Core… I am looking at impeachment…"

"Whatever Weyland is planning might involve your assassination… the Rebel Core is only interested in protecting you…"

"And what about my family…"

"I don't think they are in danger sir… but I am sure arrangements can be made…"  
Jameson stood up, "I don't like this either sir, but if what Saurito says is right then we can't even trust the secret service…"

"Or anyone outside of this room…" Wellington said.

The President blew out a breath; "Tell your… friends I will cooperate…"

For the next hour or so Saurito outlined a plan that involved cloning the President, Admiral Wellington, and Director Jameson and allowing the clones to run their respective offices until the Rebel Core could find out what Weyland-Yutani was up to. When they were done talking The President, admiral, and director all gave Saurito a hair sample she took to her contact with the Rebel Core. With the sample she took the president, director, and admiral were replaced with clones.


	29. Chapter 29

Epilogue:

Part 1. Ripley

As Ripley traveled with the hunters she was taught their language and fighting tactics; she was also taught how to use their technology and weapons. The Clan Lord personally taught her all these things and the name of his race; he also taught her their long bloody history. During the entire trip Ripley was awake for the journey, she learned that the humanoids use to use hypersleep pods like the humans did but then they developed a system that slowed the aging and used cryogenic filters that served the same purpose as the hypersleep pods. What the humanoids considered sanitation or self hygiene wasn't appealing to her; the humanoids used a red powdery clay like substance on their skin then they washed it off with water and the stuff they used wasn't easy on her nose. They ate meat cooked rare and drank a tonic that made Ripley sick at first but she eventually came to like it.

After weeks of traveling the clan ship entered the atmosphere of a red planet. The entire system had eleven planets rotating around a yellow sun and it was the second planet from the sun they landed on. Ripley was eager to see her new world; it had high rocky peeks with sparse vegetation here and there. A dense jungle loomed in the distance with a few stone buildings peeking out of the jungle. Ripley looked back towards the mountains and a pyramid loomed out over all mountains and structures. She could hardly contain herself as she followed the clan lord through the city of stone and metal buildings; at the entrance to the city were two statues of the hunters; they both stood at a thousand feet. The clan lord lead Ripley through the streets to stone mesa at the edge of the city with a small walk way leading towards a five story hut that took up the center of the mesa. There was a standard at the end of the bridge with an emblem of another clan on it. The clan lord stood at the edge of the bridge pointing.

"Go…" He said standing there.

Ripley walked across the narrow bridge with no hand rails or ropes to hold on to or keep her from falling the twenty thousand feet below to the bottom. When Ripley reached the hut the metal doors opened left and right and when it did she gasped, because standing in the door was a man- a human man. He was seven feet tall and he had thick locks of hair flowing down to the middle of his back. The man was very muscular and had a runners build; he had a scar running across his face from the top right to the bottom left. His chest was bare and hairy with several scars on his abdomen and chest. He wore a metal piece similar to what the hunters wore across their waist.

"You must be Ripley…" She was speechless, "Would you like to come in and sit down…"

Ripley couldn't think strait because there was a smell coming from the man almost similar to that of the humanoids. Ripley knew what it was but it had no affect on her, but from this human man it was driving her crazy. "You are human…" She finally managed to say.

He smiled; "Unfortunately… Are you hungry…" The hut was spacious and decorated with skins and furs and the skulls of both human and non-human skeletons. There were even a few xenomorph skulls and two hunter skulls as well; in the center of the first floor a fire roared with the strange carcass of an animal on it.

She looked around the hut and noticed the armor on the wall with five different face masks. She tried to look upstairs, but all she saw was the walls and skull decorations on the wooden rail. "How did you come to live with the hunters…" she asked returning her attention to the man.

He sat down in front of the fire and cut a piece of meat from the animal; "You better sit down my tale is a long one-" He took several bites before he began, "-It started with my human great grandfather- he was a green bareigh, but he was dishonorably discharged- He ran guns to south America with his woman, but then she became pregnant- during one of his deals he and his customers were being hunted- my great grandfather escaped to his house and told his woman to pack, but he was followed- my great grandmother saw the light and flash and jumped in the path of the blast-  
She died in his arms- enraged he picked up his shot gun and put four bullets into the hunter- as you can guess they are hard to kill; he stabbed my great grandfather and killed him- then a baby cried out- as you know the hunters are an honorable race so the hunter took my grandfather and raised him as is own- they augmented him with their own DNA- so that he would be as fast and strong as they are- eventually my grandfather returned to earth to hunt and mate- after a sorted adventure he returned with my father who lived to be five hundred years old- He died on a hunt but not before he had mated and had me." He paused to finish his meal.

Ripley smiled; "Is that why I was brought here- so that you can…" She swallowed hard. "…mate?"

"One of the reasons…"

"Where is your mother…"

"Dead I presume… I was born over two hundred years ago… she was living on a planet you call Vero M86…"

"What are the other reasons I was brought here? And what is your name?"

"My name is Syreo…" Syreo explained to Ripley that the clan he was apart of had always been allies with the clan she had been adopted into and that they had always planned to unite their clans by marriage, but the hunter prince died. He also told her that the hunters didn't want Ripley to become an experiment of the humans. They also wanted to see what would happen if someone who was third generation enhanced with the speed and strength of the hunters mated with a hybrid-alien woman.

"By all accounts I should be furious, but it is a chance at a new life…"

She asked him questions about the hunts he been on and the who, when and where his grandfather returned to earth and mated. After several hours of talking Syreo took Ripley on a tour of the city and for the first time Ripley got a look at the females of the species. The females were slender and tall as the male hunters; they were topless and wore silk cloths across their waists. Syreo explained that a female who wore the bone jewel necklaces were mated to a male; the females had longer head tails and smaller mandibles. A female could have any where from one to five yearlings at a time.  
As time went on Syreo took up Ripley's training and education of humanoid society. As they spent time together it became more and more difficult for Ripley to resist her attraction to Syreo mainly in part because of the pheromones his body was putting off; another reason was the fact that she was restricted to living with Syreo in his hut. After one intense moment in the jungle away from the city they got caught up in the moment and Ripley gave in to her physical attraction for Syreo. They lay side by side in the forest; it was twilight and Ripley lay in his chest staring up at the stars thinking about Call and Johner.

"Do you believe in love?" Ripley asked.

Syreo sighed; "I asked my father that when I was ten years old… he said he loved my mother but she couldn't be apart of our world… I am happy you are apart of our world…"

She looked up at him, "Are we mated?"

"Yes…"

Syreo and Ripley presented themselves before the clan lords and the Clan Lord that adopted Ripley gave his consent and so did Syreo's clan lord. Two weeks later Ripley was pregnant and the birth of her children happened quickly. In nine days a xenomorph like egg came from between her legs and Syreo had to show Ripley the simulations several times before she would believe they would look human. The egg like pod she birthed contained five human-hybrids that finished their growth process inside the pod. At the end of nine months the pod opened up and Ripley was cleaning off and naming three boys and two girls. The eldest boy was named Arq by Syreo, the second oldest was a girl who was named Call by Ripley. The next girl Ripley named Sierra; the boy who was next in birth was named Nero and the forth child a boy Syreo named Kail and the youngest a girl was named Xena. All five children possessed the strength, speed, and agility of both their hybrid parents. They also possessed Ripley's acidic blood and high tolerance for pain. The children aged a year everyday and in twenty-one days they reached their full adult hood and the rapid aging stopped.

Ripley stood on the edge of their hut looking up at the stars when she was joined by Syreo. "What is wrong?"

She sighed; "I feel cheated… out of being a mother again…"

He kissed her on the cheek; "I feel cheated as well at my chance to be a father…" He rapped his arms around her.

"Did you… grow that fast…"

He fondled her body; "I am afraid my dear that they get that from your DNA…"She elbowed him in the stomach; "I have some news that might cheer you up… the clan lords have decided to give us our own clan and ship…"

Ripley turned and faced him, "Are you serious…" He nodded yes as Ripley pushed him back into the hut and up the stairs.

Part 2. Super Soldier

Back on earth construction teams were working night and day to rebuild the city and restore Central City New York; earth had avoided a huge catastrophe and everyone was about getting back to a sense of normalcy. The coalition government was locked in a heated debate about the future of it's military. The topic was using the Ripley Clone DNA to create super soldiers and have an effective weapon against the humanoids. While the debate in the government endlessly went on things at Weyland-Yutani were moving forward. Edward Bishop Weyland had once again escaped prosecution. Evidence against Weyland concerning his company's involvement with the incident at the medical plaza vanished.

Weyland had his family flown back to the tower after the all clear was given throughout the city. After spending some quality time with his family Weyland made his way to his office. When he opened the door a woman was standing at the window; a woman wearing a brown trench coat.

"Who are you? And how did you get in my office…" When the woman turned Weyland smiled.

"Well I still have a key… and then I am a black ops operative…" Janice said.

Weyland walked across the room and gave her a big hug, "My little sister is always welcome here…" Janice sat on the desk after he released her. "There was an ugly rumor going around that you were dead…"

She sighed, "Well I faked my own death…"

"I should have known… and as glad as I am that you are still alive… I have to ask what brings you here…"

She smiled and handed him a small box; "I come baring gifts…"

He opened the box and inside was a lock of hair; "What's this?"

"A DNA sample from Ellen Ripley…"

Weyland was dumbfounded, "How did you get this?"

Janice explained to her brother how Ripley was captured and used as bate for the humanoids. He listened as she told him how the humanoids destroyed the military force holding her and allied themselves with Ellen to destroy the androids.

"Unbelievable…" Was all Weyland could manage to say. "I have to get this to special projects…" He looked at his sister and kissed her on the cheek. "Where are you off to now…"

"Washington… I have some fires to put out…"

"What can you tell me about the Rebel Core…"

"Nothing… they have gone underground no one can tell us anything… even after cracking down on all the black market weapon's dealers…"

"Stay in touch…" He said walking her to his private elevator.

"I will…"

As soon as Janice left Weyland called the new head of special projects Warden Hart. The DNA sample was taken to the Atlantis Base labs where they immediately began cloning Ripley's DNA. The project involved mental conditioning and genetic manipulation to make the clones obedient and submissive. They even altered the DNA replication process to create male soldiers. In one week they had over one thousand clone soldiers all loyal to Weyland Yutani.

The hybrid soldiers were used to shatter and tare apart the coalition. The fall started in Canada and whipped across the ocean to Great Britain and throughout Europe. Assassinations of high ranking public officials and economic and digital terrorism caused the chaos as well. In addition to Weyland's hybrid soldier program they implemented their new androids which were more advanced than the generation androids; it was the androids causing the economic and digital unrest. To restore order Weyland-Yutani would lone out security soldiers that were more efficient than the colonial marines and given enough time Weyland was running that country and slowly but surely Weyland-Yutani was going global.

Part 3. Android Rising

The Android ship Atlas plowed through space unseen because the advanced hologram system that hid the ship from the naked eye. The Atlas also had a broad band static disruptor that hid it from motion detectors or any other scanning system possessed by humans to date. The Atlas was designed in the form of a battle cruiser and had over one hundred decks; it was twice the size of a normal battle cruiser. The ship was run by an AI and it was under the command of council Xan.

He was Xan no longer because his mind had been erased and replaced with a copy of Able's profile. He still referred to himself as Xan to avoid the suspicion that a change had been made to his memory. Xan stood on the bridge of the Atlas overseeing ship operations.

"What is our ETA?" He coldly asked.

"Sir we will arrive within the next three hours…" the pilot answered.

"I will be in my quarters… alert me when we are an hour from our destination…"  
Xan left the bridge and made his way to his suit that had a computer terminal so that he could monitor any part of the ship; it also had a private escape pod if the ship ran into the humanoids again.

Xan switched on the holo-com, "…Doctor Hymen is everything ready." Hymen was aboard the ship and he was prepping the DNA for the experiment.

"Yes sir everything will be ready by the time we arrive… we already have a clone egg for hatching and we are keeping it in suspended animation…"

Xan switched off the holo-com and shut down for the rest of the trip. He was awakened with an hour of travel left. The planet they traveled to was in the core systems and it was called Coreah five seven eight the site of new haven colony and the company building the off planet theme park was actually a front for the order of light. The Atlas transmitted the call sign North Star and remained in orbit as it shuttled down supplies and equipment. The base Xan and the android crew entered the order of light's secondary base which also had a star ship factory as the androids were building their own off world fleet. This base housed over one million androids both operators and military androids. When Xan and Hymen entered the base they were greeted by the base the commander.

"Welcome to Coreah sir…" The commander said saluting; We heard about earth base…"

"Yes… commander I want to send a ship to locate the humanoid home world immediately…"

"Yes sir…"

"Use the Atlas… that will get their attention…"

Within an hour the ship launched and after seeing the ship off Xan went over base operations. He and Hymen immediately implemented their cloning, xenomorph, and Android government programs. The human clones would help with their war efforts and populate Coreah. The xenomorph program implemented the use of the cyber-alien and the androids used their technology to control how many eggs the queen lay. Slowly, but surely the androids took control of planetary operations on Coreah and they were able to build the factories needed to build an android fleet.


End file.
