Alan Foster: Alien: Covenant - Origins: The Official Movie Prequel

Striding onto the bridge, she was surprised by the expressions on the faces of her crewmates. Standing between Tennessee and Faris—the two seated pilots—her husband was staring at a projection that hovered just above the console in front of him. Uncharacteristically, he hardly glanced in her direction as she made her way to his side.

Maybe this isn’t a drill , she mused. Her thoughts immediately went to the Yutani employee who had tried and failed to sabotage the ship. But enhanced security measures had been instituted in the wake of that abortive attempt, an unauthorized roach couldn’t slip onto the Covenant .

Seeing that Sergeant Lopé was also present caused her pulse to accelerate. In an emergency drill, the ship’s chief of security would have been expected to make his way to the armory, or the drive access shaft, or even the colonists’ deepsleep chamber. Not to the bridge. Something definitely wasn’t right.

She stepped up behind Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder. He barely had time to flash her a hasty smile of recognition before turning his attention back to the projection that hovered in front of him and between the two pilots.

“Hi, hon,” he said. “We’ve got us a problem here. Maybe a serious problem.” His tone was as grim as she had ever heard it.

“No maybe about it, Cap.” Faris spoke without looking up from her instruments. “Not only isn’t it slowing down, it’s continuing to accelerate.”

Daniels stood baffled. “What isn’t slowing down? What’s continuing to accelerate? What the hell is going on? ”

“There’s a cargo shuttle on intercept course, darlin’.” Tennessee’s voice was clipped and tight, not his usual relaxed drawl. A big man with a scruffy beard, he wore his signature cowboy hat.

She still didn’t understand. “What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s not scheduled.” Faris indicated a brace of readouts off to her left. “Last regular delivery craft departed an hour ago. Next one isn’t scheduled until 1800 Covenant time.” Daniels glanced at the nearest chronometric readout, and saw that 1800 was still three hours away.

“Special delivery?” she hazarded. “Supplementary cargo?” She knew better, but she had to try. From her position at Communications, Upworth looked back and shook her head.

“We checked with Central. Nothing supposed to be coming our way.”

“And they’re still not firing to slow down.” Tennessee worked controls like a concert pianist, his eyes darting from one readout and projection to the next.

“Worst case scenario?” Captain Jacob asked him.

The pilot ran some hasty computations. “They’ll hull us. Can’t say where yet—they’re still too far off. Explosive decompression wherever they hit. Casualties will depend on who’s at the point of impact. Maybe crew, maybe colonists, maybe both. At least if it’s folks in deepsleep, they’ll never know what happened.” He paused, then added solemnly, “If they impact any part of the main drive, the Covenant isn’t going anywhere for a long, long time. If ever.”

“We tried contacting them.” Ricks was Upworth’s husband and the ship’s other communications officer. He spared a quick glance for the now somber Daniels. “They answered immediately. Said they were bringing ‘extra supplies.’ Had an answer for every question.”

“Maybe they’re telling the truth,” Daniels said.

Faris gave an irritable shake of her head. “Doesn’t explain their velocity. We asked them about that, too. They replied they’d do a faster deceleration.” One finger tapped the console in front of her. “Doesn’t compute. Even if they go full decel right now they’d still shoot past us. Looking more and more like they intend to run directly into us.”

“So… a kamikaze run.” Turning to look behind her, she caught the eye of the quietly watching Lopé. He had come up silently behind her. “I thought you said the company had dealt with this nest of crazies. Rounded all of them up. Unless this is an entirely new and different bunch of crazies.”

He shrugged ever so slightly. “That’s unlikely. Seems like we might’ve missed a few on the first go-round. The ones we took into custody were far too relaxed when they were being taken away. No yelling, no protesting. Now I understand why they were so calm. They’d already set this in motion. Considering that they’ve already killed repeatedly on behalf of their ‘cause,’ it doesn’t surprise me a bit that they’re ready to sacrifice everyone on board the Covenant to stop the mission. They’re that insane.” Shifting his attention to the pilots, he queried Tennessee. “Can you move? Get out of their way?”

A grim-faced Tennessee looked back at him. “This ship isn’t a repair skid. The Covenant is a colony vessel. Even if we had time we couldn’t maneuver out of the way. Their orbit will intersect ours in a matter of minutes, not hours. And we’re not fully loaded or cleared for departure. We can’t activate the main drive—that could squelch the mission as effectively as an impact. Might kill a few colonists in the process. We’re stuck.”

Jacob turned to the chief of security. “What kind of weapons do we have?”

“What you’d expect.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lopé remained calm. “Small arms. M90s and the like. Nothing that would work ship-to-ship, and stop an oncoming shuttle. Certainly nothing with enough explosive power or enough mass.” He eyed Daniels. “What about using some of the stuff we’re taking for excavation work?”

It took her only a moment to reply. “Some of it would probably do the trick, but it’s all packed away and security sealed. Not enough time to get it out and get it ready.”

“Dammit, we need something big, and right now. Something big enough to knock them off trajectory, at least.” He looked over at his wife. “Can we throw some heavy machinery out the cargo lock?”

“We could,” Daniels told him after a moment’s thought. “If we can rotate the ship and align it perfectly and find some sort of propellant.”

“Shooting minnows in a river from the top of a skyscraper,” Tennessee rumbled. “Need something larger and more maneuverable.”

Suddenly the answer came to Daniels. “The Covenant is equipped with two landers for scouting and to use in emergency situations. I don’t think anyone in the company would argue that the current circumstances qualify as an emergency.” Even the pilots were looking her way now. “We send one out. On an intercept course.”

Tennessee looked across at his wife. “Could work. Lander’s not as big as a cargo shuttle, but it’s big enough. Especially if all the engines are firing max.”

Faris nodded agreement, then hesitated. “What if we need the lander at Origae-6?”

Daniels had an answer for her. “We probably won’t need either of them. Once the Covenant sets down, it won’t be taking off again. If a situation does arise, we’ll still have the second lander.” She indicated the readout hovering in front of her husband. “If we don’t do something fast to stop that shuttle, we’ll never see Origae-6, and it won’t matter how many landers we have on board.”

“Then—on my responsibility.” Jacob raised his voice. “Mother. Prepare Lander Two for emergency departure.” They did not have to wait long for a response. The voice of the ship’s AI was soothing and assured.

“Lander Two is now ready for emergency departure.”

“Good. Program for intercept of incoming shuttle.”

The voice did not change. “I cannot do that, Captain.”

Tennessee cursed under his breath while Faris and the two younger communications officers fought to remain calm.