The Incident

The Incident was the informal name given to a Xenomorph infestation affecting the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's Primary Operations Complex on LV-1201 in late 2230 and the subsequent series of events that ultimately contributed to the destruction of the associated Forward Observation Pods and the overall fall of the colony in January of 2231.

Beginning in late November of 2230, an isolated incident involving a single Xenomorph Drone rapidly escalated into a full–blown infestation of the POC. Within a matter of weeks, the repeated attacks by Xenomorphs—and later Yautja–resulted in the total loss of the facility and the death of a majority of its personnel and civilian population. As the POC was the primary means for offworld communication between the FOP and Earth, the Forward Pods were left isolated and responsible for their own defense for six weeks when the landline between the two facilities was severed during the POC's fall.^[1] As a result, Weyland–Yutani sent a Colonial Marine mission to LV–1201 to investigate and provide assistance to the beleaguered colonial personnel, arriving in the system by early January 2231. Concurrently, a Yautja clan also arrived on LV–1201 to commence a hunt on the human and Xenomorph prey on the planet in December 2230, further exacerbating the predicament of the colony.

With the FOP already in a precarious state following the fall of the POC, the situation on the colony only continued to deteriorate despite the reinforcement of a United States Colonial Marine Corps scout force from the USS Verloc. Detrimental decisions made by head researcher Arnaud Eisenberg, as well as the actions of the tenacious Xenomorph Drone, a Yautja Hunter, and a renegade researcher contributed to the death of the majority of the remaining colonial personnel on the planet and the destruction of the Forward Pods merely a day after the arrival of the Verloc. The surviving Colonial Marines, having suffered heavy casualties, evacuated all remaining marines planet–side back to the Verloc. With the POC overrun by Xenomorphs, the FOP destroyed, and the evacuation of the colony's personnel ending in failure, LV&ndaah;1201 was effectively abandoned, with further evacuation efforts by a larger Marine contingent aborted in light of the chaotic situation at the colony.

Timeline[]

Prelude[]

On November 23, 2230, an Ovomorph was brought to the POC by Major Dunya of the Iron Bears mercenary group to be taken off-world by a smuggler, Jonas Richter, aboard the cargo ship, Aurora. The egg's container, having been improperly secured within the Aurora's cargo hold, tipped over and fell, the resulting disturbance causing the egg to hatch and release a Facehugger. The Facehugger proceeded to escape the ship, traversing the POC until it happened upon and impregnated an isolated guard within his quarters. A short time later, the resulting Chestburster emerged, roaming the POC until it found a animal pen, where it proceeded to feed on its denizens as it grew into a Drone.^[2]

A few hours later, the now-matured Drone went on a killing spree throughout the POC, massacring dozens of civilian scientist and security personnel alike while also releasing other captive Xenomorphs in the process.^[3] Despite the rapidly escalating situation, POC Commander Liam Hadden opted against immediately notifying head of security, General Vassili Rykov, and asking him for assistance, deeming it unnecessary and correctly believing the situation only involved a single escaped Xenomorph that could still be contained.^[4]

Infestation of the Primary Operations Complex[]

Around 5:18am on November 25, the Drone entered the Animal Storage Facility of the POC, singularly decimating the facility's security personnel as it continued its attempt to return to its hive. The Drone eventually encountered and fought a Yautja hunter, who had also infiltrated the facility and was tracking the Drone, viewing it as worthy prey. A vicious duel ensued in the primary outflow tunnels of the POC, during which the Drone emerged victorious over the Yautja hunter, with the latter activating its Self-Destruct Device as part of a last-ditch effort to kill the Drone. The act was ultimately in vain, as the Drone survived and the resulting explosion heavily damaging the facility and breaching a weak point in the POC's outer defenses. This in turn allowed the Drone to escape the POC, while also giving other Xenomorphs the means to easily infiltrate and swarm the facility.

With the situation unsalvageable, Commander Hadden finally gave the order to notify Rykov of the situation and sounding the general alarm for the POC. With Rykov at least three hours away from providing any assistance, Hadden gave additional orders for all available security teams to immediately report to the affected areas of the POC in order to buy time for civilians to evacuate to designated shelters. Hadden further ordered for the POC's distress beacon to be activated and for a transmission to be sent to Gateway Station to notify them of the situation. The transmission would never go through, however, as Dr. Eisenberg secretly ordered for the transmission to be blocked, unwilling to allow his superiors to learn of his failure and the expanding Xenomorph infestation in the POC.^[5]

With the massive breach in the POC's defenses, Xenomorphs gradually began invading the facility and overwhelming its security forces over the following days and weeks. Three days after the breach, Commander Hadden was reported dead alongside a number POC security personnel by Level 4 security guard Joss Blaney whilst attempting to fix the breach in what remained of the POC's primary outflow tunnels on November 28. Shortly after, Blaney effectively assumed command of the POC's remaining security personnel, still expecting General Rykov to arrive soon to provide aid to the POC.^[6] The aid would ultimately never come and the survivors gradually retreated to a fortified hideout within the POC as the Xenomorphs penetrated further into the facility. As the infestation continued to worsen, rationing was implemented amongst the survivors as resources dwindled and the hope of assistance from the Pods faded. At some point during the infestation, the landline between the POC and the Pods was severed, likely by the same explosion that precipitated the Xenomorph infestation the POC was facing. With the primary off-world communication link lost, the FOP were effectively isolated from further communications with both the POC and Earth. This prompted Weyland-Yutani to send the USS Verloc and its contingent of Colonial Marines to investigate, as they were the closest vessel in the vicinity of LV-1201^[7]

Arrival of the Yautja and Fall of the Primary Operations Complex[]

Approximately six days after the Incident, during the morning of December 1, a clan of Yautja led by the Yautja known as Prince arrived in the LV-1201 system in response to a signal intercepted several weeks ago from a long-thought deceased Yautja on the planet, with the intent to initiate a hunt on the human and Xenomorph prey there. Their approach was detected by the Xenomorph Observational Facility in the Pods, with remote monitors picking up visual of the Yautja starship as it descended toward the region of the Zeta Site. Recognizing the ship as belonging to the same adversaries he encountered on Korari 19 years prior, General Rykov immediately dispatched containment teams to the area the ship was approaching, with the intent of capturing any Yautja they might encounter. Meanwhile, Prince and two other Yautja descended to the surface and commenced their hunt, picking off several science and security teams stationed in the jungles of LV-1201 approximately 3 km from the FOP. Containment Team - Bravo would encounter Prince's compatriots, successfully incapacitating the two of them through the use of EMP weaponry and immediately evacuating the captive Yautja back to the FOP. Prince would pursue them, infiltrating the Pods later that evening and carving his way through the Pods security before being incapacitated and captured himself by Rykov. For the next five weeks, Prince and his compatriots were brutally experimented on by the facility's science team, while their Yautja biology and technology were extensively studied.

On December 10, roughly two weeks after the Incident, the situation for the survivors of the POC had further worsened, with Blaney reporting that the majority of the P.O.C.'s sentry turrets were inoperable due to failing power generators. In the face of escalating Xenomorphs attacks and even assaults conducted by other members of Prince's clan, Blaney enforced strict discipline on the remaining survivors, cutting rations for guards who missed rotations and sealing the gate to the hideout at sundown, regardless of who might still be outside. By December 26, the survivors numbers had dwindled even more, with Blaney reporting that several guards were missing or dead. With the situation growing increasingly dire, Blaney reluctantly released Martin Xavier, a former Weyland-Yutani security guard and the now-informal leader of the convict laborers under his retinue. Needing the support of the convicts, Blaney and Xavier worked to ensure the group's continued survival through the remainder of the year.

Despite the boosted manpower, shortly before or after the start of the new year, Blaney and Xavier were killed, either by Xenomorphs or Yautjas. Any remaining survivors left within the POC were themselves gradually killed off by Xenomorphs or abducted for the purpose of producing more in the nascent hive growing in the facility. Nevertheless, few and scattered survivors remained in and around the perimeter of the facility up until the arrival of the Colonial Marines.

Arrival of the Colonial Marine Reinforcements[]

On January 6, 2231, roughly six weeks after the start of the Incident, the USS Verloc entered into orbit around LV-1201. Largely unaware of Xenomorph infestation nor its extent, the Colonial Marines, led by Major Thomas McCain followed through with their original orders to investigate the loss of communication with the colony, rescue survivors, and hunker down until the arrival of further reinforcements from the larger 6th Battalion. As such, the Marines were cleared only for the use of light and medium munitions in any potential engagements on the colony's surface. Following a tumultuous landing, the Marines eventually made their way to the POC, finding the facility abandoned and largely overrun by Xenomorphs. The few remaining that were encountered were quickly murdered in brutal ways by Yautja hunters or were found cocooned in hive resin, mere seconds from death from an emerging chestburster if they weren't already. Nevertheless, the Marines secured an area of the POC by restoring power to the facility, reestablishing a landing beacon for their dropship, and reactivating the POC's automatic defenses thanks to the efforts of Corporal Andrew Harrison.^[8]

After securing the Southern Landing Zone of the POC and determining that there were no remaining survivors left in the facility, Major McCain led a detachment of marines using Weyland-Yutani APC's bound for the Forward Observation Pods. Using the service tunnels that connected the two facilities, the Marine convoy progressively cleared the Xenomorph infestation within as they pushed toward the FOP, spearheaded by Corporal Harrison. In order for them to proceed onward to the Pods, the Marines were required to override the tunnel network's Weyland-Yutani security protocols through a virus introduced by the Verloc's AI mainframe, MOTHER. While successful, the action inadvertently also disabled the defense grid around the FOP shortly before 10:00 pm on January 6.

The sudden collapse of the Pods' defense system for fifteen minutes coincided with an invasion by a horde of Xenomorphs, resulting in extensive casualties for science and security personnel caught outside during the attack. During the chaos in repulsing the Xenomorphs, contact was lost with a number of archaeological teams outside the Pods. Meanwhile, the same Drone that caused the Incident infiltrated the FOP from its support struts alongside a number of other Xenomorphs. Not long after the attack, the Marine convoy arrived at the base of the Pods, roughly sixteen and a half hours after arriving on LV-1201. Major McCain was greeted by Dr. Eisenberg and General Rykov, who informed him of the defense situation of the Pods and the roughly two dozen scientist and laborers stranded near the Zeta Hive as a result of the marine's accidental disruption of the defense grid. Major McCain immediately offered the services of himself and his marines, beginning with the reestablishment of the communication link with the POC via a booster signal setup in the service tunnels.

Operation Savior and the Fall of LV-1201[]

The marines and security personnel of the Pods immediately began making preparation for the rescue of the archaeological team trapped near the hive, codenamed Operation Savior during the evening of January 6. Secretly, however, the true purpose of the operation was it being a Large Mass Specimen Extraction (LMSE) intended for the hive's resident Empress, with Dr. Eisenberg planning to have the marine's abandoned and killed in the hive to cover up his illegal operations on LV-1201. When Corporal Harrison was tasked with helping in restoring the landline connection with the POC, he was betrayed by Major Dunya of the Iron Bears for his role in disabling the FOP's security system and the casualties that were inflicted on the Iron Bears as a result, including her fiancé Dimitri. He was detained as a convict laborer, while his disappearance was explained to his fellow marines as an incident with a convict gone awry, resulting in his death.

Meanwhile, the Drone that infiltrated the FOP began wreaking havoc in one of the Pods, releasing a Predalien as well as compromising the integrity of the Artificial Hive within one of the Pods, leading to a massive Xenomorph contamination of the Pods. The situation was further exacerbated by Corporal Harrison, who following his escape from incarceration, disabled the stasis field for live facehuggers and ovomorphs contained within the Pods, leading to several guards and scientist being facehugged in the process. Additionally during his escape Harrison unintentionally released Prince from his stasis pod when he happened upon it. As the three members of their respective species made their independent ways out of the Pods, dozens of scientist and security personnel were killed, leading to the FOP being thrown into disarray as the security personnel attempted to contain the infestation.

Aftermath[]

Upon returning to the USS Verloc, Major McCain issued an immediate emergency dispatch regarding the situation on LV-1201. McCain noted the colony was being abandoned, citing the complete overrun of the Primary Operation Complex by Xenomorphs and its transformation into a hive as well as the destruction of the Forward Operation Pods. McCain further noted that the marine contingent on the Verloc had sustained severe casualties, with one dropship unaccounted for, and that evacuation of surviving personnel on the colony had failed.

Pod 5 Casualties[]

• Jerry - security guard
• Carter - security guard
• Winter - security guard

Incident Casualties[]

• Cisco - security guard (original host)
• Joss Blaney - security guard
• Rieser - convict
• Jonas Richter - Aurora captain
• Liam Hadden - POC commander
• Martin Xavier - convict
• Lloyd - security guard
• Thomas Farley - security guard
• Natasha
• Diller
• Mattingly
• Markinson - FOP chief of security

Scientists[]

• Arnaud Eisenberg
• Tomiko Maurita
• Betheny Clements
• Adam Post
• Stiles
• Martin Sharpe
• Mencus
• Chin

Groups[]

• Prince's Clan members
• POC Guards
• Iron Bear members
• USS Verloc marines

Trivia[]

• All dates in the game are referenced to the Incident, with only the early Alien campaign taking place before (given the fact that it is the player Alien that causes it).

References[]