Aliens: Colonial Marines

Story

Seventeen weeks after the events of Aliens, an entire battalion of Colonial Marines aboard the USS Sephora travels to LV-426 to respond to a distress call from Corporal Dwayne Hicks. Upon arrival, the Sephora docks with the USS Sulaco, now in orbit around LV-426 though last sighted over Fiorina "Fury" 161, and sends Marines aboard to investigate. A massive Xenomorph infestation is discovered inside the ship and several Marines are killed in the initial attack. While investigating the ship, Corporal Winter, Private O'Neal and Private Bella Clarison discover that the Weyland-Yutani PMCs are now in command of the Sulaco and have been breeding Xenomorphs on board for study. The corporation's enemy mercenaries attack the Sephora with the Sulaco's weapons, and both ships are destroyed after the Sephora retaliates. Winter, O'Neal, Bella, their commander Captain Cruz, the Sephora android Bishop, and the pilot Lieutenant Reid escape aboard Reid's dropship and take shelter in the ruins of the Hadley's Hope colony complex on LV-426, now almost completely destroyed after the detonation of the atmospheric processing plant. Cruz orders all surviving Colonial Marines to assemble at the colony, hoping they can hold out there until rescue arrives. While investigating the ruins of the colony, Winter discovers Xenomorphs that respond only to sound and movement and attack with suicidal explosions, as well as the body of Sulaco Marine Private Hudson. With their position as secure as possible, Cruz orders Winter to travel to a nearby Weyland-Yutani research facility, located near the abandoned ship, and recover a manifest that identifies an unknown prisoner captured by the Company, who appears to be a survivor of the Sulaco. It turns out that Bella is impregnated with a Chestburster. In order to save her, Winter and O'Neal accept the mission and accompany Bella to the facility, where they try to "convince" the surviving staff to remove the embryo. Upon their arrival, however, an interrogated Weyland-Yutani medical officer tells them that Bella's life cannot be saved because even if the embryo is successfully removed, the creature's invasive placenta is cancerous and will kill her anyway. Bella dies when the Chestburster hatches while saying goodbye to Winter and O'Neal. Winter and O'Neal find the manifest that they were supposed to use to find and rescue the prisoner. It turns out to be Corporal Hicks, who explains that Weyland-Yutani intercepted and boarded the Sulaco before it arrived on Fiorina 161. A fire in the hypersleep bay resulted in Ripley, Newt, and Lance Bishop being ejected from the ship in an EEV along with the body of an unknown man mistaken for the Corporal. Hicks himself was captured by Weyland-Yutani operatives and tortured during interrogation to learn more about the origin of the Xenomorphs and to gain control of the Sulaco's weapons systems. From Hicks, the Marines on LV-426 learn that an FTL-capable ship is docked at the research facility and is the last chance for the survivors to escape from the moon. After rallying the remaining Sephora personnel and repelling a Xenomorph attack on the colony, Captain Cruz orders an all-out assault on the Weyland-Yutani complex to capture the FTL ship. Winter and Hicks lead the advance, but the ship disappears minutes before they can reach it. In a last-ditch effort, Cruz pilots a dropship toward the fleeing ship and crashes into its hangar. Winter is confronted by the Xenomorph Queen in the hangar and attempts to eject her from the ship with a cargo drop system, but fails when she climbs back aboard. Cruz sacrifices himself when he shoots the crippled spaceship directly into the queen, catapulting them both into the upper atmosphere of LV-426. Winter, O'Neal, Reid, Bishop, and Hicks find Michael Weyland and confront him, but Hicks realizes he's just an android lookalike left behind as a decoy and summarily executes him. Looking for useful information, Bishop connects to the CPU of the destroyed android and finds that he has "everything," setting the stage for another confrontation between the Colonial Marines and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.