From a long way back.

This is an intro to an RP adventure for aliens I wrote after we lost Ivan.

Background Music: Jarre & Vangelis - Crockett's Theme - Miami Vice (youtube search)


Start off – under way

Open…

The story begins with a group of young comrades walking side by side down the dusty old dirt path.  The old dirt path that leads to Colonial Marine Head Quarters on Mars.  Only a few people have ever been requested to head to the head quarters since the war has begun. Only those who we hear stories of…

Of all the worlds the crew has been to, and all the sites they have seen, nothing compares to the shear beauty of the sight they see here on Mars. The most impressive mountain range anyone has ever layed eyes on. It stands as high as the sky is tall, jetting out from the surrounding deciduous forest. Whose trees stand 20 or 30 feet tall themselves, and their thick branches over hang the path, just enough to provide a little shelter from the elements. But not to worry today, no need for any shelter from the elements on this of most magnificent days.

With a gust of wind kicking up some dust from the path, with it it carries along the sweet, sweet, smells of pine. The scent relaxes and refreshes the group as they continue down the old dusty path.  The music of songbirds now starts to fade away, as they approach the edge of the luscious forest.  And is replaced by the quite workings of the Marine base. Tracked vehicles driving about off in the distant, the hum of the helicopters as they buzz by and the soft chatter of marine patrol radios.

The distinct red glow of the soil in front, guides the group on their way to their destination, only to appear to vanish into the mountains ahead.  

The light blue sky with its clouds soaring slowly above seems to be nothing of what the old texts tell of this place. With the development of terra forming technologies over the past years mankind has been able to turn this once barren desert planet into the perfect utopia.

As the heat from the distant Sol sun shines on the group, it seems to give off a rejuvenating energy… Revitalizing the tired travelers. No Fears… No Worries…  The mind is at ease.

As they approach closer to the mountains, they begin to realize that this is not all mountain range at all… but it is some kind of weird trickery… most of the mountains are in fact… buildings, standing 20 or 30 stories high.  

The group stops and stares in amazement… everyone had heard about or seen holo-technologies before, but no one had ever seen it on such a huge scale.  A sense of ease begins to comfort the group as they think to themselves in silence “I guess it makes sense to have the head quarters for the defenders of mankind hidden to the best of our abilities, now that the war has come…”

And over the sense of awe the group still is at peace and harmony.

None can remember the last time they were all together. Especially on such a gorgeous day like this. And having the privilege, nay the Honor, of being brought to the Head Quarters for a special assignment. It does seem kind of weird to have everyone back together again. With the exception of a few missions and events… I don’t think any of them have been together since back at basic…

They know not what mission awaits them down the road. Will it be another recon mission in the jungle planet of Ariakus, or maybe a xenomorph hunt in Centauri or could it be a merchant escort to the heart of Someraland.... Only time will tell, but whatever the mission, whatever the job, they can handle it. There is nothing they can throw at them, when they are all together, that they can’t handle…

Ahhh.. to be at the prime of youth with a pulse rifle, motion detector and a pack of friends watching your back, ready to explore a galaxy full of xenomorphs.

The Aliens universe is pretty blue-collar - long-haulers, prisoners, grunts, forklift operators - but your intro story has an almost Asgardian tone to it: a band of brothers among Martian evergreens with drop-ships buzzing by. (Or maybe I should the tone is Olympian since the tallest mountain on Mars is called Olympus.) I like contrast to the usual grim-darkness.

This winter I listened to an Aliens cast reunion podcast and found myself grinning from ear-to-ear. Those actors are like family members to me and it is great to hear them having a good time.

In my early twenties I was kicking back and reading some old comics, I was reading Deathlok about a guy who is made into a military cyborg and is slowly losing his human identity - basically the Robocop plot. All of sudden I find myself choking up, the story is hitting me hard. I've read the comic before and never had any real emotional reaction. Than I realize that Crockett's Theme is playing on a mix-tape, that song has a short-circuit to my core but unlike some other songs that can hit me like that Crockett's Theme still has a driving synth beat to carry you through the melancholy. It is truly a great song.

If you are even in a mood for synth music I recommend Jean Michel Jarre's Equinox [1978], Oxygene [1978] and Randez-Vous [1986] and Vangelis' Spiral [1976] and his soundtracks for Bladerunner and the Bounty. I only discovered these artists' back-catalogs this year but they have been in heavy rotation ever since.

Good to have you here Torgo23.

I enjoyed reading the intro and it certainly could make for an action packed adventure! Reading it amd thinking about it did bring me back to a different time in a good way. Thanks for sharing this Torgo as it really did bring back a trip down memory lane!

I liked the Aliens' story so much I wanted to add to it.
Consider this a fan-fic to Torgo's Aliens fan-fic.



Background Music: Moby - Whispering Wind


The Sarge called for a last minute check before they made their final approach to the HQ. The Medic made sure all his hypos had their caps on tight, the Engineer double-checked the servos and gyros on the Machine-gunners mount, the Scout and Pilot banged their helmeted heads together in macho play. The Joker pulled out his game-pod and started playing.

A Martian day is the same length as an Terran and the sun hung in an glorious afternoon sky scarred by dozens of white contrail scars left by drop-ships leaving and entering the atmosphere. The Sniper gazed up and watched as Phobos slowly, slowly crept across the southern sky. The moon was an oblong asteroid only a 1/3 as bright as Earth's Moon so most grunts called it the 'silver potato' but the Scout enjoyed it's lumpy appearance - it didn't dazzle you like the Moon, Phobos wore its' humble origins on its sleeve.  

A sudden westerly gust cut through the afternoon buzz and stirred the tops of the Martian pines then vanishing. An eerie silence descended in its wake. The Scout looked questioningly around.

<bip> <bip> <bip> <bip>

The Scout swung out his motion sensor. He stared at it while the team stared at him.

"It must be false signals, I'm reading two, three extra people."

The Engineer stood up and pulled out his sensor. "I'm reading the same. Maybe all the fancy holo-tech is causing some sort of ghost signals. I can re-calibrate them, sarge."

Without taking his eyes off the sky the Sniper said, "Nay, let them be." The Scout and Pilot nodded in agreement, the Engineer looked as the Sarge.

The Sarge surveyed his crew. He had got them to spit & polish for the trip to HQ but everyone's body-armour still had lists of names painted on them - family back on inner ring mining stations, childhood pets and AIs, first loves, dead friends. There were some names that were carved into everyones' armour - including the Sarge's.

"You heard what the man said: let them be. You can't blame a few extra marines for showing up on such a gorgeous day."

The Colonial Marines stayed on the dusty red road until Sol flared low and Phobos was swallowed in its smouldering amber. They traded old stories, laughed, fixed up each other's gear, and butted heads until their necks hurt. HQ sent no search-parties to find the late Marines and the Marine made no sign of being bothered by missed appointment.

It was dark when the detectors' rhythmic beeping finally went silent. Phobos had not moved an inch and its' waxing shine cast soft shadows of giant pines and across the path.

[The next part slightly subverts the tone of the story but I think Ivan would appreciate it]

The silence was finally broken by the Machine-Gunner.

"Enough misty water-coloured memories, we're here to pay the REMFs at HQ a social call - an' deliver a package."

And with a shit-eating grin she pulled out an invisio-shroud revealing a large bio-canisiter on his back. Her body harness was not just supporting her weapon but also the canister - the strain on her back must have been enormous but she never showed it.

No one gave a fuck that the Colonial Marine Corp was in bed with Weyland-Yutani, militaries and industry have gone hand-in-hand since the first mean-looking ape got his kids to stockpile rocks and good whacking clubs. And no one gave a fuck in Weyland-Yutani wanted to weaponize the Xenomorphs because everyone rather have our Bugs fighting those Bugs than our Grunts fighting those Bugs. But the fact that Weyland-Yutani had seeded whole planets with the Xenomorphs, the all the fighting of the last decade had been on those planets to set-up orbital quarantines, that whole squads had been wiped out in these fights and that civilians colonies had been ground zero for the initial infections.... that changed things.

An endless Bug War was good business for Weyland-Yutani. If the Marine Corp generals had any guts they would have marched in the Weyland-Yutani boardroom and greased the rat-fucks s.o.b's on the spot - but they didn't  - and now the war was coming home to them.

It had taken much wheeling and dealing to get the old team back together, even more to get an invite to Mount Olympus HQ and sneaking a Xenomorph larva onto the planet required calling in every debt they were owed - but now the hard part was done. They just had to walk-in, drop it off, do a meet-and-greet, and hightail it off the planet and onto some long-hauler heading toward the outer rim before anyone figured out it was them. A single larva was not enough to start an infection but it was enough to send a message. This was an old fashioned fragging using a high-tech 'sentient xenomorph bio-weapon'.

The Sarge adjusted his helmet, "You heard the man. Lock n' Load, people. We got a social call to make." The marines fell into formation and the Medic helped the Machine-Gunner re-adjust the inviso-shroud to completely hide the canister.  

The radios in their helmets crackled to life, "Where are you Sigma team?!"

"Sorry, sir," the Sarge barked, "ran into some old friends and lost track of time, sir."

"Your ETA at Olympus was three hours ago - get your sorry asses here double-time! Lieutenant-General Hiller hates slackers!"

Joker spoke out from the back of the formation, "You heard the man, Sarge. No more slacking!"

It was a beautiful spring evening on Mars.