After their meal, the lieutenant announced that they would have a mission briefing in 10 minutes in the hangar.
Kris walked over to Zheng and the others and said, "This is where we'll find out how God has inserted us into the story. Remember to act your roles after that. I have a feeling this is part of the increased difficulty."
The veterans nodded in agreement.
Everyone moved toward the hangar, where a few Marines were already sparring and goofing off. When Sergeant Apone and the Lieutenant arrived, so did Ripley.
Lieutenant Gorman began the briefing. "This mission is a joint operation between Weyland-Yutani and the military. Our objective is to find out why the terraforming colony broke contact with company HQ."
He paused for effect. "The estimated number of colonists in the complex is around 150, and we have been unable to contact even one of them."
"Is this gonna be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?" asked Hudson.
"That's the kicker," Gorman replied. "A xenomorph may be involved."
"Excuse me, sir—what?" Frost asked, confused.
"A xenomorph," Gorman clarified.
"So it's another bug hunt," Hicks said, already resigned to the nature of their work.
"This will be explained further by one of the company's consultants, who has had firsthand experience with the creature," Gorman added.
Ripley then described her crew's encounter with the alien. Most of the group didn't take her seriously, but the veterans, familiar with the plot, stayed quiet and let her tell her story.
After Ripley finished, Lieutenant Gorman took the stage again.
"Now you know the mission. Let me reintroduce J Squad. You already know... Corporal Wu—Tech Officer. Corporal Kruger—Tactical Engineer. Corporal Zha. Private Zan, Private Jie, Private Chen, and Private Lovski."
Each name was called out, and the new squad members stepped forward for identification.
"They'll be joining this operation as backup."
"Then we have the civilians accompanying us on this mission, other than Mr. Burke and Ripley," Gorman continued. "Ms. Li Shuaixi and her brother Li Xiaoyi, along with their bodyguard Zero, are from Yutani shareholders. They are here to ascertain the status of the colony and escort the five new settlers we have with us."
"Any questions?" Gorman asked.
Hudson raised his hand. "How do I get out of this chickenshit operation?"
Sergeant Apone reprimanded him, and Lieutenant Gorman added, "Alright! Listen here! I want this thing to be smooth and by the numbers. I want DCS and tactical database assimilation by 0830. Ordinance loading, weapons strip, and dropship prep will take 7 hours."
"Now, move it! People!" Gorman barked as he left.
"Alright, sweethearts! You heard the man! And you know the drill! Move! Move! Move!" Apone shouted.
---
A dropship delivers the expedition to the surface of LV-426, where they find the colony deserted. Inside, they find makeshift barricades and signs of battle, but no bodies; two live alien facehuggers in containment tanks; and a traumatized young girl, nicknamed Newt, the sole survivor.
"These two are the ones we need to protect, especially from the two facehuggers mentioned before," Kris said.
Kris added, "When they seemed to be on their way back to the safety of the *USS Sulaco*, the company representative, Burke, got greedy and wanted to smuggle the alien sample by impregnating Ripley and Newt."
"With this, he could sell it to the highest bidder once he got back to Earth," Kris finished.
When they were told to prepare for the mission, Zheng took this time to gather the players and discuss the movie.
Lan explained the plot up to their current situation. Kris pointed out their priorities, while Zheng broke down the orders they were given so they could understand their roles.
The veterans were slightly taken aback by Kris's sudden change of character, confusing them a bit because Kris was never this serious nor so assertive.
J Squad would be going down with the movie characters to secure the colony and protect the dropships, while the movie characters would look for the missing colonists. The civilians and Yutani representatives would be waiting here on the *Sulaco*. When the area was secured, they would be brought down to perform their tasks and settle with the colonists later on.
In the mission directives, the ones staying with the "civilians" would be Jie, Lan, and Kampa.
So, only Kris, Zheng, Xuan, and Biscuit would go down.
When they were done, the newbies were told to proceed to their rooms, but most of them opted to stay in the mess hall. The newbies were still taking things lightly, as they wouldn't be going down to the hostile planet until it was secured, and due to the presence of the Colonial Marines, they felt safe.
'Well, that's because things were still at a simmer, but when everything starts boiling, they'll start acting like ants on a hot plate,' Kris thought as he simply looked at their leaving backs.
---
When they were gearing up for the drop, Kris swapped his gear for the more advanced equipment the marines had, except for his acid-resistant bodysuit and pistol grenade launcher.
When Biscuit saw this, she began doing the same.
The weapons provided by the government on this mission were very high-end for just a mere rescue operation. This was one of the things Kris observed while studying these movies in God's dimension. The level of firepower they had should have made this mission a cakewalk—if not for poor leadership, corporate intrigue, and the Marines' skeptical views toward the mission information they received, which turned this whole operation into a disaster.
Though God had thrown Kris a screwball by changing the next movie to *Aliens* instead of *Alien*, almost ruining his plans, he chose to use this to his advantage, thus his sudden change of character.
Kris wanted to establish a trustworthy persona to better manipulate the events in his favor.
While they were busy planning for the movie, Ripley managed to show off her piloting skills on the mech-loader and impressed Sgt. Apone and Corporal Hicks, earning their respect.
By the time they were geared up, everyone was psyched up for the mission, fueled by the speech Sgt. Apone had given them before he started giving orders.
"Everyone, get to the ready line! Get out! Get out! Moving out! Moving out! Moving out!"
As the now-geared-up team lined up in the hangar, the Colonial Marines and the four members of Team China looked like absolute badasses. Equipped with tactical armor, infrared sensors, military-grade combat knives, and the addition of their main weapons, they were fully ready for war. Some of them had additional weapons they carried, like Corporal Hicks's shotgun and the pistol grenade launcher on Kris's hip. So when he strapped on his 16 40-caliber gauge ammo on his body, nobody even batted an eye.
The Sergeant walked down the ready line to inspect the troops, and when he was satisfied, he told them to load up the armored transport vehicle.
This transport vehicle was a hybrid between a tank and a personnel carrier, fully equipped with cannons and a rotating turret that's capable of moving on top of the vehicle to its back portion, allowing it to squeeze into tight spaces. This machine was akin to a mobile command center, rather than just a simple transport vehicle.
"Alright! Get in there! 1, 2, 3, 4... I want combat seating! You know your places! Hudson! Strap everyone in!" ordered Sgt. Apone.
As the grunts were getting strapped in, Ripley, Burke, and Lt. Gorman boarded the vehicle and took their places. Meanwhile, Bishop, the android, drove the carrier into the loading ramp of the dropship.
When the carrier was secured, it was Corporal Ferro and Private Spunkmeyer's turn to prep for the drop. Ferro's voice was broadcasted through the comms.
"Stand by, we're retracting landing gears now..."
"Pre-launch auto-cycle engaged."
"Primary couplings release."
"Opening bay doors."
"All systems clear."
"Prepare for drop in... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1! Drop!"
Meanwhile, in the carrier, Ripley saw how tense Lt. Gorman was, so she asked, "How many drops is this for you, Lt.?"
The Lt., now clearly sweating, answered, "38... simulated."
Then Vasquez asked, "How many... actual drops?"
The Lt. said, "2... including this one."
The Marines all showed their displeasure at that answer, as having an inexperienced commanding officer was never good for operations such as this.
Hudson then looked at Kris and asked, "How about you, Wu? How many actual drops?"
"Hmm... Enough..." said Kris while closing his eyes, as if the gravitational pull of re-entry was a smooth ride on a paved road.
Ripley interjected, "80 mission drops in 8 years!"
Kris cracked open one eye and said, "You've read my file..." This piqued his curiosity, as God usually doesn't put much effort into arranging the players' background stories.
They were about to continue their discussion when Ferro's voice came from the comms:
"We're in the pipe! 5 by 5."
Then the turbulence kicked in as they passed through the planet's thick clouds. Kris just closed his eyes again and thought, *'It's about time to stir up some trouble.'*