November 21, 2189 [0100 U.T.]

Dear Diary,

We’ve been looking for this damn thing for six hours now without any luck. The problem is, of course, that the Tonoro is not a small ship. There are so many places this “Xenomorph” can hid, it’s not even funny. We have motion trackers, but obviously the damn thing needs to move for us to pick it up. From what the company people told us, this mother is going to try for us all. Basically, we are hunting for a hunter, and as a hunter, it’s gonna try to stay undetected. It’s like a lion. Hopefully when it does move, we’ll pick up the fucker and blast it to hell.
The company people, as usual, are not helping at all. They don’t want us to kill it. They actually admire this fucking thing, as if it is God. Well, you know what?

FUCK THEM!

That damn thing killed Johnson and we’re sure as hell not going to let it live for that. Besides, this thing has been the source of horrific problems in the past(23). I guess Morse and Ripley were right!

If those company people intervene, so help me God I will kill them!


-A.

=========================

(23)
The Nostromo, Hadley’s Hope, the Sulaco, and Fiorina 161 all encountered the Xenomorph. Ellen Ripley told the Interstellar Commerce Commission at the enquiry about what happened on the Nostromo(22-2), even though the Commission did not believe her. Hadley’s Hope was destroyed when the atmosphere processing station went critical. Why it went critical is still unknown, but it is known now that Hadley’s Hope was overrun by this alien species. The U.S.S. Sulaco was sent to investigate Hadley’s Hope. According to the data retrieved from the Sulaco, the marines encountered what they described as the “alien nest” on Sub-Level 3 at the processing station. All of the colonists, except one – Rebecca Jorden, approximately 6 years of age – were dead. The marines were ambushed at the processing station, at which point they lost Private Front, Corporal Dietrich, Private Wierzbowski, Sergeant Apone, Private Drake, and Private Crowe. Jesus, they lost half their team at the processing station.

For some unknown reason, the drop ship carrying the marines to and from the Sulaco crashed, killing Corporal Ferro and Private Spunkmeyer. What’s interesting is that, according to the marines’ vital signs, Corporal Ferro and Private Spunkmeyer were dead before the drop ship crashed. Could it have been an alien?

The marines sealed themselves inside the main colony complex, about a kilometer from the processing station. Having the aliens to deal with, their problems were escalated when they realized the processing station was on the fritz. They had to remote control the second dropship in the Sulaco to pick them up. It is unknown what happened while they were waiting for the drop shop – perhaps they were ambushed again – but Private Hudson, Private Vazquez, and Lieutenant Gorman were killed. Only Lieutenant Ripley, Corporal Hicks, Rebecca Jorden, and Bishop (the synthetic for the mission) returned to the Sulaco.

Something really interesting occurred on the Sulaco shortly after the four survivors returned to the ship. The Sulaco’s sensors picked up a large organism, approximately 7 meters in height and approximately 1,200 kilograms, moving around in the Sulaco’s hanger. Unfortunately I cannot give any details as to what was happening in the hanger, but the information suggests that the organism was ejected through the airlock. Within an hour or so of this incident, the four returned to the ship’s cryogenic compartment for the trip home.

What really caught my attention was that the sensors picked up something else moving around in the ship. There were two objects, identical in size and mass (approximately half a meter high and about 13 kilograms) moving very slowly – about the same rate at which a snail moves around – in different directions from the drop ship hanger. One of them ended up in cargo hold E and the other ended up in the cryogenic compartment. This actually explains what the crew of the Tonoro encountered on the Sulaco. With the Sulaco about two days into its journey home, the sensors picked up a new organism moving inside the ship. Apparently it originated from inside the object in the cryogenic compartment. I’m not sure what it was, but I suspect – based on the description the company provided to the marines on the Tonoro – that this was a facehugger. It managed to get inside Ellen Ripley’s cryo tube and settled down roughly where Ripley’s head would have been. This explains how she was impregnated with the alien queen on Fiorina 161.

The Tonoro found a small hole in the cryogenic compartment floor hat appears to have been melted by acid. It’s only a theory, but maybe the facehugger that attached itself to Ripley spilled some of its acid blood. This might be the case, since the computer indicates that it was in that small hole where the fire started. The fire is known to have been started by an electrical short. Perhaps the acid shorted the wiring in the subflooring? Could be…

Why the fire was able to spread the full length of the ship is a mystery for me as well. The fire suppression system should have kicked in and contained the fire. For some reason it didn’t. The computer had to jettison the cryogenic tubes in one of the Sulaco’s EEVs. Before the EEV was separated, the sensors picked up the facehugger moving inside the EEV. The EEV was detached from the Sulaco, which later crashed on Fiorina 161. Only Ellen Ripley survived the crash(23-1).

As for the Sulaco, the fire continued to spread. At first it moved forward into the hanger. Here the fire caused the drop ship to explode. The explosion destroyed five decks and forced the fire aft. As the fire neared the reactor room, the computer scrammed the reactor to prevent it from going critical. The ship was now on emergency power, but not for long. I believe the intense heat of the fire caused the emergency systems to shut off, at which point the Sulaco lost all power. This is where the data ends. Whatever happened to the Sulaco from here on was all down to the laws of physics. The fire eventually burned all of the oxygen in the ship and burned out. The Sulaco continued to drift through space unnoticed for ten years, until it wound up in orbit around Gamma Serpentis, where she was discovered.


(23-1)
FURY 161 CLASS C PRISON UNIT IRIS – 12037154
REPORT EEV UNIT 2650 CRASH
ONE SURVIVOR – LT. RIPLEY – B5156170
DEAD CPL. HICKS L55321
DEAD UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE APRX. 10 YRS OLD
REQUEST EMERG. EVAC SOONEST POSSIBLE –
AWAITING RESPONSE – SUPT. ANDREWS M51021