version 4 - The Alien Encyclopedia

peration that Ripley met Carter Burke, a representative of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation who hadbeen sent to assist its former employee. On June 12, an inquiry was held aboard Gateway, whereRipley presented an account of the Nostromo incident. As there was no hard evidence for the existenceof the Xenomorph, the inquiry dismissed Ripley's story and revoked her flight officer's licensewhile refraining from filing charges. Burke retrieved the coordinates of the Derelict on LV-426 fromthe inquiry protocol and sent them to the colony of Hadley's Hope, which had been set up on theplanetoid during the previous decades, for investigation.A week later, on June 19, Hadley's Hope received the transmission and sent out the colonist RussJorden to investigate the coordinates. When Jorden left the colony on June 21, he took his familywith him on the assignment, including his daughter Rebecca Jorden. Later that day, the Jorden familydiscovered the Derelict, and Russ went inside to investigate the ship together with his wife, AnnJorden. During this investigation, Russ found the Xenomorph eggs inside the Derelict's cargo holdand became impregnated by a Facehugger. Soon after, the colony administration received a distresscall from Ann Jorden, and subsequently, Russ was brought back to the colony and placed into medicalcare. While the details of what happened after are sketchy, it is obvious that the colony was rapidlyoverrun by the Xenomorph organism, which set up a hive in the Atmosphere Processor adjacentto the colony in the process. Almost the entire population was either killed or brought to thehive for impregnation. On July 3, 2179, Colony Administration lost contact with the colony.Now forced to take Ripley's story into account as at least a possibility, a military reconnaissancemission was assembled to be sent to LV-426 to investigate the communication breakdown. For thismission, Lieutenant William Gorman was given command of a squad of Colonial Marines from the2 nd Battalion, 9 th Regiment. Ripley was approached to take part in the mission as an adviser in exchangefor having her license restored, and, after initially refusing, agreed to join. Burke, who wassent to supervise the mission on behalf of Weyland-Yutani, which had considerable financial investmentin the colony, also was part of the roster. On July 6, Ripley, Burke and the Marines departedGateway aboard the Conestoga-class space transport Sulaco.Three weeks later, on July 27, the Sulaco arrived at LV-426. Bishop, the android assigned to themission, proceeded to check out the deep-space communication relays to find it intact, excludingthe possibility of a mechanical failure as the cause of the breakdown. At 09:00, the party left for thesurface aboard one of the two UD-4L “Cheyenne” dropships aboard the Sulaco. During an initialflyover of the colony, it was discovered to be seemingly abandoned, with power basically intact.The dropship proceeded to land and deploy the party aboard an APC. Next, a large part of the Marinesquad went out to investigate the complex, entering the Operations & Administration wingthrough the North Lock. Quickly, signs of battle were discovered, along with burn marks caused byXenomorph blood. The rest of the party, including Ripley, Burke and Gorman, entered the wingsoon after through the South Lock. The possibility of the Xenomorph being involved became a factwhen the second party discovered Facehugger specimens contained in stasis tubes inside the medicalfacilities. Minutes later, Ripley and the Marines made an astounding discovery: Rebecca Jorden,who had managed to survive the Xenomorph onslaught by hiding in the colony's vent system. Rebeccawas brought to the colony's command central where the squad set up a temporary headquarters.While checking the mainframe, PFC William Hudson, the communication tech of the squad,discovered that the PTD signals of the colonists were all emanating from Sub-Level 3 of the nearbyAtmosphere Processor. Soon after, the group departed aboard the APC and entered the outer areasof the Processor.When the Marines reached Sub-Level 3, they discovered that the whole structure has been transformedinto a Xenomorph hive. The Marines were ambushed by the Xenomorphs, and only byRipley's efforts, who had stayed behind in the APC, a number of Marines managed to escape thehive. However, several soldiers didn't make it out and were either killed or captured for impregnation,including the squad's commander, Gunnery Sergeant Apone. Ripley suggested to evacuate andnuke the entire site from orbit. While Burke objected on the pretense of damaging Weyland-Yutaniproperty, his authority was superseded by Corporal Dwayne Hicks, who had stepped up to the positionof commander after Apone had been taken and Gorman had been rendered unconscious during