Close Encounter of the Sixth Kind (for guardianjohran)

MISSION LOG 4/13/20XX: ‘Explorer Recovery & Documentation Expedition’

Description:

As of 4/10/20XX the EXPLORER_SILVER disc has ceased it’s hourly signals to the A.S.T.A. (OBJECT DESCRIPTION: EXPLORER_SILVER is a time capsule sent into space containing elements of human culture from all participating countries, across all history. It was sent with the intention of communicating with extraterrestrial life should they find it.) EXPLORER_SILVER was specifically programmed only to stop transmitting signals if opened or in the event of a crash. The last transmission was sent somewhere around the Xanthippos System and so scientists assume the drone has crash landed on LV-426, a previously undocumented planet. A researcher has been dispatched along with a crew of N.U. space marines to investigate the disturbance.

---

What’s the first step to exploring an uncharted territory? Open fire! Or so it seemed, as the first few sets of boots on the ground on planet LV-426 bore knives strapped to the side and National Union emblems on their heels. A quaint team at that, five of the military’s best and a researcher tagging along for ‘documentation’ purposes, plus the ship’s trusty chef-pilot-janitor-nurse-and-multiple-other-titles. And they had found the disc, alright. Laying in a pile of rubble and scrap, the billowing smoke was their first lead towards finding it. And what the team did find barely resembled the downed satellite they had been sent after. What of it survived the crash was covered in long, animal-like scratches, no doubt picked up from skidding along the ground upon entry.

“So what you’re saying is we stayed cooped up in a dreary old piece of garbage for two hundred parsecs just to find out there’s nothing here?!” A bold and blatantly frustrated voice barked out to her crewmates while they hauled their weapons back towards the aforementioned piece of garbage. The voice of which came from the usual suspect when something was being complained about; Isidora. A temper as short as she was, tan, and pissed off, she stomped through the rocky surface of LV-426 with a scowl on her face while her teammates followed around her. In her hands, a pulse rifle she had never gotten the opportunity to use.

“Parsecs are a measurement of distance, not time.” A more posh voice corrected from behind her. “And we found what we were looking for. Not every mission is a search and destroy!” Mary-Anne chastised her, carrying a much heavier backpack behind her and hunching over from the weight. “Aww, does Izzy not understand what she can’t shoot?~” That sultry addition dripping with sarcasm came from an unburdened Bethany, who was in front of both girls, walking backwards just to see them while her blonde hair billowed over her face in the wind. “Don’t.” Mary-Anne requested of her.

Too late. “Oh, shut up, Bethany! You just don’t understand anything you can’t stick your giant tits in front of to get what you want!” Isidora barked back, but Bethany merely winked, sticking out her tongue before facing the proper direction again. “You know you love me.” She teased. “What did I just say?” Mary-Anne asked and was promptly ignored. “Do I? Or do you just assume fuckin’ everyone bows down to you because your frail ego would just crumble to bits if they didn’t?” Isidora asked, but Bethany merely rolled her eyes and kept walking. “Don’t ignore me! I’m sick of your prissy Princess shit! Resign and be a stripper if all you want is mindless idiots telling you how pretty you are!”

“Izzy, that’s enough! Please?” Mary-Anne asked. “You too! You’re not the damn captain, so quit acting like it!” Isidora lashed back, to which her teammate stopped in her tracks to look up at her. “And you’re not either, even if you think you are!” Mary-Anne was quick to defend. “No? I’m just the only one who can get the damn job done.” Isidora tsk’d Mary-Anne away, and the argument only picked up from there.

“Ooh! Do we measure success in casualties, now?~”

“No, it’s measured in missions pulled off. Not clothes!”

“Izzy, you’re making this walk more miserable than it already is.”

Blah, blah blah, blah blah. At the head of the troop walked the only two women who weren’t getting involved in the feud, though one was frequently looking back just desperate to get her word in. Every time she’d try, though, her partner would face her the other way again and remind her silently to stay out if it. The co-captain reluctantly obliged.

“Are you ever going to shut them up?” Valeria asked. “The more energy they get out now, the less we have to deal with in the ship.” Akachi reminded her. Val’s shoulders slumped, and she rolled her eyes, but silently agreed. The fighting continued. It went on, and on, with Isidora making more rude comments about Bethany’s figure, Bethany jabbing at Isidora’s age, then Mary-Anne trying to disrupt the two and coming under fire herself. Valeria’s face reflected her anxiousness to make it stop. “What if they don’t?” She turned to Akachi, “Can’t you at least send one of them to detention?” A mere shake of her head was all Akachi offered.

The entrance to the ship approached. “Come on!” Valeria was growing restless, “I don’t want to listen to that shit the whole way back!”

With a sigh, now at the ramp of the ship, Akachi turned around suddenly. So suddenly that Bethany ran right into her chest, still looking back to exchange words with Isidora when she did. She didn’t waste a second turning right back around and saluting, though, and Mary-Anne followed suit under Akachi’s hawk-like gaze. Isidora, on the other hand, half-heartedly raised her hand to her head.

Akachi studied her crew. Valeria was off to the side, patiently tapping her foot. Isidora was fuming red from the heated argument, ready to go right back at it once her back was turned again. Bethany had that same, cocky grin she usually had. And of course, Mary-Anne was just tired and ready to get back inside.

Everything looked normal here. “Elba. Detention.” Akachi turned her head. Isidora’s furled brow released up. “What…?!” She asked, all the while Bethany laughed aloud, “Ha!” and Mary-Anne and Valeria both sighed with relief. “That’s… bullshit! You can’t put just me out! What about her?!” She gestured to Bethany, who flicked back her gorgeous long hair to shoot Isidora a smile. “Guess she likes me better.~” She winked. “Lynette. Bailey. Meeting.” Akachi added after, and that smile faded instantly.

With a groan, Isidora spoke up again “Then I’m coming t-“

“Detention, Elba.” Akachi headed back into the ship without another glance, and Isidora had to drag her hand along her face while Mary-Anne and Bethany headed inside.

[guardianjohran]

The creature had been one of the first to discover this new craft. Just as it had been one of the first to discover the probe. The few of them that had opened it, seen the contents directly, had been altered. Of course, they were a collective intelligence, mostly. What one knew, the others knew. But, this one, at least *now* understood the difference between simply knowing something, and experiencing it. The experience had changed it some. Taught it to think thoughts of its own. It wasn't fully self aware yet. But, it was close enough to know what it was missing. Know what it wanted.

And so when this new craft had landed, especially since it had been fortunate enough to be nearby, it couldn't resist the temptation of sneaking onto the craft. They were crafty, it's race. Flexible. It could fit into small spaces, stay hidden for long periods of time. Of course, the humans -it recognized humans- that had come out of the craft, didn't even seem particularly interested in looking for it. They were searching for their probe. Obviously. And they had left the craft almost unguarded.

It hadn't been hard to slink onboard. Make its way up the ramp. But this wide open space was too exposed. Not like the tunnels it was used to. But then it had found the tunnels. It had know way of knowing the humans called them 'air conditioning vents'. To it they were simply tunnels. This is how it would explore. how it would move about. In the familiar tight spaces. There were even windows adorning the tunnels every so often, that it could watch through, to see what kind of lives the humans had. And it was through one of these tunnels that it saw a human soldier stomp angrily into one of the rooms. The one adorned with the personalization, and softer, padded things. The human -it couldn't know her name was Isadora- did not look happy. It watched, just observing. Seeing what these self aware creatures did in their own time. This one was not behaving like the ones on the video that It had experienced. Curious, but not wanting to give away its position, the Xenomorph settled down in front of the AC vent to watch her behavior patterns.

((I am so sorry that doesn't even begin to match what you put out. I hope you don't regret taking me on as a partner with all the delays, and now this vastly inferior response.))

“Un-be-fucking-lievable.” Shaking her head, Isidora barely muttered the words under her breath while she walked past her captain without so much of a salute, even going so far as to bump shoulders with Akachi on her way in. “Hey! Listen here, you-!” Valeria jumped up to follow after her, but Akachi grabbed the collar of her uniform and pulled her right back, letting Izzy storm off into the corridors of the old spaceship while others sat in wide-eyed wonder of what was going to happen next. Valeria gave one good tug to break Akach’s grasp, but the captain held her back, so she submitted with a single crossing of her arms.

“I can’t believe you let her get away with that.” Valeria grumbled, “If I were in charge, she’d be scrubbing the fucking floors for months.”

“You’re not in charge.” Akachi simply responded. Bethany covered her mouth as if to say ‘ooh!,’ and Val rolled her eyes while letting her shoulders slump down. “Meeting.” The captain nodded inside the ship, and the remaining marines stepped inside single-file, taking the opposite path to the hallway Isidora had taken.

Motion-activated doorways opened wide while Isidora stomped her way through the empty corridors, practically boiling in her skin. Fuck this crew. Fuck this dustbowl planet. And fuck this trash bin of a ship! The walls looked like tinfoil, giant, ugly wires and pipes strewn about the ceiling. Spaceship technology was centuries ahead of this piece of junk and yet it’s still the only thing their budget could afford. With a huff, Isidora made her way to her quarters and put her palm over the scanner.

Which didn’t recognize her at first. With a roll of her eyes, she tried it again. And again. Oh, she was about to punch through that glass now. Third time’s the charm, finally it took up her signal and the doors opened up. With a groan, Isidora walked into her chamber. Or maybe jail cell was more fitting, given why she was forced here.

[guardianjohran]

It watched the woman grunt, and groan. Obviously the human was very unhappy. He didn't understand its words, like, 'bullshit' or the one which began with F, that she used so often. But it could tell her mood from her tone of voice. This was the human equivalent of hisses, or roars.

The human rose from her bed, and stalked to the wall of her room, giving it a punch. And then another. Trying to find some violent way to relieve her frustration. This failing, she stomped around for a moment, before finding her way back to the soft bed, and flopping down on it. Gripping her pillow against her face, she screamed, wordless sounds, using the fabric to muffle the sound. Though, the creature still thought someone in the craft must be able to hear the sounds she was making.

This realization led to it's thinking. If the human was loud, her companions would be used to hearing her sounds and screams. This would be a safe time, for it to attack. If it scared her, or hurt her, and she screamed, it wouldn't make her companions realize there was a situation. They would just think it was more of her angry sounds. But... it didn't want to *kill* the humans. Not entirely. Though, it wasn't opposed to it, if that became necessary. No. What it wanted was to *learn* from them. Learn about them. If the capsule had opened its eyes, expanded its mind, in that way... Really interacting with a human could do so much more. But, how to interact with it. It remembered a ritual it had witnessed in the footage from the capsule. A way humans exerted dominance or authority over the other. The more powerful of the two striking the weaker of the two, at the meatier portion at the top of their legs, repeatedly. Perhaps it could try this. The humans seemed to yield to this instinctively after a certain amount of time.

With the plan in its head, the creature pressed up against the vent cover. Harder, harder, harder. Until eventually the vent's weak screws were shorn from the backing, and the cover driven off of the vent. The creature scuttled out right behind it, and reared up on it's hind legs to hiss at the woman.

Never the wiser to the pair of eyes locked on her figure while she trampled into her own room, Isidora stepped into her bunker with all the grace of a bull. Her boots stomped across the hard floor, and she stepped on her own laces to untie them, then kicking them across the room and dropped down onto her back onto her bed. She stared up at the ceiling in silence, for a moment of unexpected calm… but of course, that couldn’t last. “Fuck…” Izzy muttered, then sitting up and hunching over. “FUCK!” She groaned again, turning to her side and throwing her fist through the nearest wall. Pure, unbending metal met her hand and her fist burned red while she lurched back, shaking out the pain in her hand while turning over onto her side. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” She continued to gloat, “This is bullshit. This is BULLSHIT!”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ship…

“Do you see now, why I didn’t want to detain her?” Akachi asked her advisor, and Valeria dropped her chin into her hands and looked away. Isidora’s frustrated shouts were at least muffled, but the loudest cries were definitely heard. “She’ll tire herself out.” Val grumbled, “Eventually…”

Isidora didn’t seem to agree. Her latest tantrum shout was luckily at least muffled by a poor pillow that wasn’t providing much feedback. By the time she pulled her head out of it’s fluffy enclosure, she was panting hard and red in the face. Somehow, she didn’t feel any less peeved. Her troubles were about to feel much more trivial now, though…

She was blissful enough, for a matter of seconds, not to know what was looming behind her. But even in her seemingly deaf tantrum, Izzy could hear the opening of the vents above her. She looked over her shoulder as the vent cover began to strain under the weight of something above. “Damn rats…” She sighed, pushing off the bed and standing below the strained duct. “HEY, BETH!” She called out into the halls, “Can you tell your FAMILY to get the FUCK out of my vents?!” She screamed back into the halls. Her insult ended with the sound of breaking metal - and suddenly, she was no longer alone in the room.

This was not a rat.

A long, black head. Spike-like bones protruding from it’s back. Rows of teeth. A coiling tail. “Oh my God!” Izzy crawled back up onto her bed, “What the fuck? What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!” She whispered to herself, backing away slowly while in awe of the monster that had arrived in her room. “What the fuck are you…?” Isidora asked, but was certainly not expecting an answer. She froze. Seemingly glared eye to… not eye, but face with the Lovecraftian terror…

And then, she bolted. Dashing back to her furthest corner, Izzy grabbed the closest thing to a weapon she could find a - a heavy dumbbell. She held that weight out in front of her like a damned sword. “Stay back!” She barked at the beast.

[guardianjohran]

The creature couldn't really even rise to its full height in the small space. There was more room here, than there had been in the vent it had used to travel here. But, it was still not spacious. Its head bobbed, its tail waved and wriggled in the small room, thumping lightly, every so often, against the walls. It opened it's mouth and let out a low hiss. Its tongue wriggled free of its mouth, and when it did, she'd be able to see *another*, smaller mouth, there on the tip of it's tongue. The teeth on this smaller orifice snapped open and closed, as if tasting the air around it. The domed head turned this way and that, as it slowly stalked toward the woman.

For her part the woman seemed to be retreating from it as it approached her. It hissed and burbled. Hunched over a little bit, and let its hands scratch against the walls lightly. Its tongue continued to wag, and the tiny teeth continued to snap. Suddenly she was holding some kind of weapon out in front of her. It looked like some variety of club. She wasn't swinging it through. Wasnt attacking. She was only using the weapon to bar the way.

But she still didn't seem to attack it, as it came closer. And closer. It was hunching lower as it moved. Starting to advance more as a quadruped than a biped. Its tongue waggled through the air in front of it, tasting, smelling. Its tail mimicked that motion behind it, balancing its body, its momentum.

“What are you…” Isidora was caught in a loop repeating to herself, that same, unanswered question. “What are you?!” Now that the beast had her backed into a corner, she got a better look at it; and what a beast it was. She hadn’t even noticed the second tongue, second pair of teeth, second mouth - what kind of world allows this abomination to exist?! Another question Isidora didn’t have the answer to… but she did know one thing. And that’s that she was a marine - destined to die throwing middle fingers to the enemy, not cowering in her cellroom while her shipmates were only a few hallways away!

With that irregular adrenaline rush, a droplet of sweat streaking slowly down Izzy’s chin, she swallowed rough… and then narrowed her eyes at the approaching monster. So, it’s got two mouths? She’ll give it plenty to eat, then. “You are one ugly motherfucker…” She nervously laughed under her breath, then rising her dumbbell far behind her head. “Well, take this in your face, bitch!” After a triumphant roar like that, no way she could lose! Isidora hurled her dumbell over her head, aiming to sink it’s weighted end right into the alien’s skull… equivalent. It wouldn’t pierce any skin, that was for sure, but it’d give it a nasty migraine at least. So she thought.

Instead, the dumbbell merely bounced off and fell harmlessly to the side. Izzy didn’t wait to watch that happen. Right as the tool left her hands, she threw herself to the floor, rolling between the monster’s H. R. Giger legs and clumsily faltering her stance back onto two feet while she charged for the door. She was going to make it! “GUYS!” She screamed out into the hallway… but there was one thing she hadn’t accounted for. A long, spiny tail curled right beneath her feet.

[guardianjohran]

It cocked its head at her wors. Repeated. Over and over and over. It closed the space between them, hands making grabby motions, but not extending them toward her. It waited on her to swing her club. But she never did. Never did. Until finally it was in range to extend its tongue and 'sniff' at the barbell, by writhing its tongue about in the air, tiny mouth snapping open and shut. When she jerked back, though, it also jerked back. She had drawn the club back over her head, and it started to coil its tail to defend.

But....

She didn't strike it. Not really. She hurled the weapon. The weight collided with the side of its head, and snapped its head around sideways. It hissed and screeched a high trill as it looked at her. Eyes focused from inside the carapace wich encapsulated most of its sensory organs. Had it not been for that exoskeleton, that attack would have done it severe damage. But as it was, all she had done was disarm herself. Allow it to close the distance. It didn't get very far, though, as she ducked, and rolled between its legs. It's arms swiped harmlessly through the air as she was no longer there. She was out of its reach. Or... at least... out of the reach of its hands. But it had coiled up its tail a moment ago, which was right where she'd tried to roll away. She was trying to make it to the opening. Trying to flee. It could not let her reinforce herself. The tail lashed out, wrapping around one of her legs, at the ankle. She was strong, and it could feel her pulling against its grip. But slowly, determinedly, it began to drag her back toward itself. Taking a step back, as it flexed its tail, planting its feet, and heaving with its hips. Then taking another step, and repeat. Unitl she was back in reach of it's hands.

Leaning down in her face, it hissed a low, menacing sound.

The opening to the hallway practically teased Isidora; freedom less than her forked tongue’s distance away. Escape was within easy reach. She could outrun this thing. Call for her crew. She couldn’t handle this thing unarmed, maybe, but her whole battalion of badasses could! Even in the heat of her terrifying situation, Izzy cocked a smile with how close and tempting her success was; and with her balance, that smile faded in seconds. “Shit!" A coiling, scaly rope tangled around her foot. Already, Izzy lost her footing and stumbled forward, just barely catching herself. The tail. The fucker could use its damn tail as an extra appendage. “Oh, no, no, no, no…” Izzy pulled and kicked against her constraint, but the beast held on tight, almost to the point of cutting off airflow to her foot. The pull would’ve been hard to face on two stable feet, but Isidora was already dizzy. With a “No, no, no!” Izzy was yanked backwards and dropped on her stomach.

“GUYS!” She screamed into the hallways again. Izzy was dragged back into her room, the remote doors closing after her while her voice echoed into the empty corridors, seemingly heard by no one but herself.

---

“And next, we’ve been assigned to district thir-“

The faintest tail of Izzy’s angry screams echoed back to the meeting room, prompting Akachi to pause mid-speech and look up. The conference has turned extra casual now. Valeria was sitting to her side, keeping a close eye on the room. Her fingers tapping. Bethany was strewn about on the console, meanwhile, hand dangling below her while the other held to her forehead like some kind of super model. Mary-Anne’s leg was nervously tapping against the floor while she retained eye contact with the wall. And having joined the jolly crew was a pale, skinny woman with a long, auburn side-cut, heavy bags under her eyes, and an empty cup of coffee resting in her hands.

Next to Bethany, a handheld radio was playing a calm, quiet rock tune.

“Is she always like that?” The red headed woman tiredly asked. “No, Dr. Brandie…” Mary-Anne assured her. Bethany thought otherwise. “No, she’s normally broken something by now.” She teased, with a playful roll of her eyes. Dr. Cheyenne Brandie nodded her head, content with that answer. Val blinked. She then nudged Akachi, who nudged her back. “As I was saying…” The captain opened, and she did not get far. “Someone should check on her!” Mary-Anne insisted. “Is Susan busy?”

“SuZu,” Cheyanne corrected. “And yes. She’s cleaning the lab for me right now.”

“Here’s what we’ll do about Ms. Elba, Lt. Bailey.” Akachi interrupted again. She turned to Bethany, who had her eyes closed, dangerously close to nodding off… and then realizing she was being watched. Something about Akachi’s glare did that; carrying a presence that made the entire viewee’s body shiver. Bethany snapped awake and looked to her captain, and Akachi pointed a finger towards the ceiling.

At first confused, when Bethany realized what Akachi meant, her face broke into a wide smile. Up went her music’s volume, and down went any sounds Izzy would make from then on out. “Now,” Akachi nodded, “Where were we?”

---

The sight of two rows - four rows - of bared, inhuman, flesh-tearing fangs glared Isidora right in the face, and she was helpless to fight it. Her first instinct was to stick her fist down this beast’s gullet and tear it’s heart out through its teeth, but Isidora’s anger was only matched by her helplessness now. The alien’s rancid breath was intoxicating, Izzy having to turn her head and cough out what got in her mouth. Nothing to do now besides flail.

“Help!” Izzy’s voice cracked while she called to her closed door again, flipping onto her side and army crawling against the monster’s grip. “Help me!” She screamed again, then pausing to kick back against the alien’s grip. “You worthless fucking morons!”

[guardianjohran]

It stared down at her. Practically looking through her. This was the first human it had encountered in real life. Sure there had been the footage. It tried to rememeber some of the rituals it had seen there. Reaching down with a hand, it squeezed her shoulder. Not *too* hard, but it wouldn't be comfortable for her. And then the same thing with her arm. Then it pressed on her stomach. Was this like the greetings it had seen? Certain things ran together. What it did remember though, was the dominance ritual. The way this human fought and struggled and screamed at it, it wouldn't be able to learn anything from her. It would need to undertake that dominance ritual. Use it to calm her. Make her understand her situation. And so, it stepped out from directly over her. Lifted her up a little with its hands around her waist. The whole while, keeping its face right next to hers, menacingly. But not biting her.

She'd feel that tail, coiling around her waist, as the hands left her. But even the tail was strong. She could fight it, but probably wouldn't be able to get away, as it flexed, drawing her closer to the body of the beast. Curling as it moved, so that she was rolled over, face down. Her hands and feet could touch the floor, but her waist was trapped. Suspended.

And suddenly. CRACK. The alien's open hand struck down, with a hard slap, landing right across the center of her uniform pants. The creature pulled back its hand afterward, curling and uncurling its fingers ponderously. It could feel the impact as well, in its thin fingers. But, if that was how humans asserted themselves, then it needed to keep up the ritual. And so it drew back, readying for another stinger.