Aliens: Beyond Time and Space

Mine was trying hard to pay attention to Najenda's instructions, and not doze off. Next to her, Chelsea lets out a long yawn.

"Something, the both of you would like to share with us Chelsea? Mine?" scolded their leader.

"Yeah." Mine answers defiantly, while rubbing her eyes "Why did you stick me and Chelsea on guard duty, last night? I got bags under my eyes, for not getting enough sleep!"

Chelsea finishes yawning, then turns to her "That's because I caught you trying to break into the Imperial Arms locker, where we kept the weapon found yesterday. You were supposed to be helping me and Akame give the survivors a bath, and wash their clothes."

Najenda bumps her fist against Chelsea's head, berating her "And YOU were supposed to come to me, when there's a problem! Instead, you tried to blackmail Mine into covering your shift of guard duty!"

Najenda pulls back her hand and massages her temple. She then turns to her other subordinates

"Let's go over this again. Today, we're searching the buildings that lie near the Atmosphere Processing Plant. We'll be entering through an entrance, located on the south side that me and Lubbock found yesterday. We'll also be going in as a group to search the ground level. If we find a basement and upper floors, we'll split into pairs and take different paths. Akame and Tatsumi will go below, while Leone and I will search topside."

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" Mine asked "What about me and Chelsea?"

Najenda puts on a smirk and answers "The two of you are staying right here, and watch the camp and the survivors. Lubbock and Susanoo will be going with us this time."

Before Mine could protest, her commander kept on speaking "It'll be tight quarters inside the buildings. And you and Chelsea aren't suited for close quarters combat. Plus, we could use the extra muscle. I'll post Lubbock and Su outside the south entrance. If you or Chelsea encounter any trouble, light the signal fire, and Lubbock will pull on Cross Tails' thread tied to me to call us back and help you. If I tug the thread to signal for backup, he'll light a fire on our end. If you see the fire, Mine will come join us. Chelsea, I want you here at all times guarding that woman and child."

Chelsea nods and smiles inwardly, thinking that she landed the cushiest job to have. Najenda turned back towards the other members of Night Raid

"Is everyone ready to go?"

Lubbock raises his hand to get her attention "Boss, I think we should bring the weapon with us, so Mine doesn't try to take it out of the locker and play with it."

Tatsumi speaks up as well "Yeah. We don't know yet what that gun can do. And Mine was already caught red handed, trying to get it."

Night Raid's leader looks down in thought to ponder their request.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi and Lubbock both throw Mine the middle finger and stick out their tongues.

Mine bites her lip in frustration, knowing her plans have been foiled. Najenda reached into her pocket and produced a small key

"Chelsea, go inside the tent and bring out the rifle. Check on the woman and little girl, while you're at it."

She hands over the key, and Chelsea goes into the tent, holding a hand over her mouth to stifle another yawn.

"Lubbock, I'm entrusting the weapon to you. Hold on to it and no matter what the circumstances are, don't ever use it."

Click…

Akame's sharp ears heard the cocking sound of a firearm being locked and loaded. The other Night Raid members all heard Chelsea gasping loudly

"WAIT! DON'T SHOOT!"

Everyone came rushing into the tent. What they saw next made them stop in their tracks. Near the entrance stood Chelsea frozen in place, looking fearfully at the woman survivor they brought back. The woman was holding the weapon in her arms and was aiming towards the glamorous assassin.

"Who the fuck are you people!?" Ripley yelled at them, keeping her pulse rifle trained on the young woman in front of her "And what the hell are you doing here!?"

The others began to spread out to surround her, but she switched to the grenade launcher and used the pump-action to chamber a grenade round.

Ch-chk!

They stopped immediately and watched her cautiously. Then the woman with the silver hair began talking

"Calm down. We don't want to hurt you. We mean you no harm."

"No Shit!" Ripley retorted in a sarcastic tone.

She quickly glances around, to assess the threat level. Two of them carried swords and only one of them had a gun. Everyone else was bare handed.

"I don't want to hurt anyone either. So just take us to your ship, and let's get the hell out of here! We need to get away, before they come!" cried Ripley.

The strangers looked at each other with confusion, and the silver haired woman spoke again

"We don't have a ship. The nearest port and ocean are about a thousand miles from here. And who is coming? The Imperial Army? They shouldn't reach this place for another day or two."

Ripley was on the verge of panicking as she hears this information

"What are you saying? LV-426 has no ocean, and I'm not talking about some damn army. I'm talking about the Aliens!"

"Ripley?" Newt woke up amidst the talking and rubbed her eyes awake. She looks over towards Ripley, and then behind to see strangers around her.

"Newt! Get behind me! Quick!" urged Ripley.

Too late. In the blink of an eye, one of the strangers, a young woman wearing a black sleeveless top and matching miniskirt with long black hair and crimson eyes, drew her sword from its sheath and laid the flat of the blade on Newt's shoulder.

"Let Her Go!" bellowed Ripley, but the swordswoman ignored her demand and looked at the silver haired woman, wearing a questioning expression.

Before everyone could even notice, three laser dots suddenly flashes right at Najenda's head. Ripley noticed the dots and turned to see where it came from. It was a tall and large man wearing a mask, a heavily tattered, light blue polo and caramel-colored pants. In his left shoulder mounted a gun of some sort, now pointing at the silver-haired woman.

It was Mike Harrigan, who had listened in to the commotion and swooped in when he saw Newt being threatened

"Lady, I rather back the fuck off from the kid before she's history" Harrigan threatened at Akame while he has Najenda at his sights.

Ripley wanted to point her pulse rifle at Harrigan. From what he was wearing, her intuition alarms a huge death flag at him. However, he doesn't seem like he's threatening her directly and is actually helping her trying to let Akame go of Newt. What's more is that he may be on the same boat as her and Newt; people who suddenly find themselves in an uncharted territory in a flash

The same goes from Harrigan. He can vaguely feel that Ripley and Newt are from the same planet as her, but in a different era. Not only that, he can see that both of them went through something hellish, just like what he went through when he fought that predator. Right now he could only nod at her, assuming that he has her back for the time being.

"Akame! Stand down!" ordered Najenda, and her subordinate quickly withdrew Murasame away from the girl. However, Harrigan and Ripley still have Najenda and Chelsea at firing range respectively.

"I meant what I said." she declared, addressing Ripley.

"You're safe with us. If we wanted you dead, you wouldn't have been sleeping here in this tent. We just want to talk. There's questions we're hoping that you might have answers to." She then turned her attention to Harrigan.

"Same goes for you too. I want to know who are you and how the hell did you get past Cross Tails' perimeter"

"Don't expect me to give you an answer unless I get mine" Harrigan answers back, to which

Najenda simply nods before He sets his mounted gun down and raises his hands up in surrender.

Ripley looks at the group's leader, then at Harrigan, and lastly at Newt.

"The girl and this gun stays with me at all times. That's my only condition. Then I'll tell you everything you want to know."

She looks at everyone to see them eyeing their leader, who is thinking about the proposal.

"Same goes for me. I'm the only one who can handle these weapons properly and I don't want anything funny from you" Harrigan also lead to the same proposal

Najenda looks up and makes her decision "Deal."

Akame steps away from the girl, who jumps off her cot and runs straight to the woman survivor and hugs her by the waist. The woman lowers her weapon and everyone starts to relax.

"I still don't know who you people are, or how you came here. But I'm telling you again, we must leave this place and get as far away as possible." insisted Ripley.

"And I'm telling YOU again, you're safe here with us." Najenda assured "My team and I are very much capable of handling any dangers that come our way. I can guarantee your safety."

"Another person told me the exact same thing, a short time ago." argued Ripley "Him and his team died, not long after that. There is no such thing as handling the Aliens! You kill them, before they kill you and you run as far away as possible!"

"Seems like you also had a 'me and my team will take care of this bullshit' type of problem. Turns out that alien's not as tough as it looks" Harrigan interjected, which earned him a confused look from Ripley

"What do you mean? You can't get close to those aliens with that weapon. They'll just melt it out with their blood-" Ripley further explained what the Aliens are capable of when he cuts her off again

"Their blood ain't worth a damn, but nobody's even getting close to that pussy face. Either you get a hole in your chest, or have all of your skin peeled off from your body"

Now Ripley understands the first one, considering that one of her former crew members suffered the same fate as what Harrigan described. About five decades earlier, Kane was attacked by a facehugger while exploring an unmanned spaceship. When he came to, the facehugger was dead and he was fine. It was only until their supper that he started convulsing madly until an alien burst out of his chest, which killed him

The second part however, is one that confused Ripley the most. Out of all the aliens she had ever encountered, not one of them is capable of flaying their victims. The only way they can kill someone is if they impregnate you, or rip your head through with its secondary jaws

That's when something came out of her mind.

I think this guy's 'alien' was different from the ones I have encountered

Najenda was starting to get annoyed by their bickering, so she stepped back towards the tent's entrance flap and opened it. She beckons for Ripley and Harrigan to come outside

"I don't know anything about these ALIENS, you two are talking about. But in the 14 hours we've been here, none of us have come across any animals, or Danger Beasts. Come and see for yourself."

With Newt still clinging to her side, Ripley slowly walked out of the tent and into the early morning light, while Harrigan followed her.

She instantly recognizes the Colony laid out before her. Everything else stunned her with disbelief.

The surroundings was a vast valley wilderness with high mountains encircling it. Around them was a dense green forest below a bright blue sky with a warm sun shining down. She can no longer see the barren rocky terrain or the dark stormy sky that made up the qualities of planet LV-426. And every breath she takes, comes with a fresh scent of pine.

She wanted to call the scenery beautiful, if it didn't confuse her so much. Harrigan wanted to say the same, but he became used to it since he's been the first one to wake up among the three, albeit in a place not so distant from the colony

"Where are we?" the former Warrant Officer asked "Why aren't we on the same planet anymore? How the fuck did we get here?"

"That's the first thing I wanted to ask too" Harrigan soon attested

Najenda looks at them and gently places a hand on their shoulders

"Come back inside. We have so much to talk about."

Ripley quietly nods, and with one last view of the scenery, leads a nonchalant Harrigan and a bewildered Newt back inside the tent.