The Corpse In The Snow.

[KEY]

The Xenomorphs tail pierced the marine. The last thoughts that rushed through his head were of the agony in his chest, and of a distant memory of his wife and son at home. Blood poured down from his mouth, as he struggled to speak....feeling the coldness of the air in the ice colony settle in. He had wandered off alone on this mission to secure W-Y's Ice Colony, separated from his squad. He thought he was hot shit, that he could make the trek to "Engineering" just fine. That is where the Alpha Captain had told them to gather. Breaking off from the snow draped road, he struggled to push through the cold, empty darkness....until an hiss was heard. Before he could even process what was going to happen next, it was too late. The tail of the foul creature had ran through his back and out his chest on the other side. It is here that the tale begins.

As it slithered away, realizing that it had dealt a fatal blow to the marine and therefore had made it useless for breeding...the marines limp form slumped forward in the snow with a gentle pat. Silence. That is all that remained. In the distance, sounds of gunfire and burst of battle cry's could be heard ringing out in the cold dead air every few minutes....but they came and went almost as soon as they had appeared. His squad mates? The Sulaco? His wife and son back home? They would never know his fate. Even if the marines were victorious this day, on this operation....his body would be lost to the snow. Frozen in ice. Buried, deep on an alien world light years from where he had built his life. On the other side of the universe from the nation and people he had sworn to defend, and this was the price for it all. On many operations before this he had saved citizens, fought to stop the oppression of his people with the Colonel Marine Corps as the flag he served under. But what did any of it mean to him now?

He was dead. An lifeless corpse, a husk of cold skin and frozen blood. The snow was already covering his legs and arms, and in the darkness of this world he was impossible to see without some outside source of light. The radio on his ear, continued to be flooded with the speakings and orderings of the marines who were still alive. Still fighting for things like honor. Fighting alongside a corporate brand like Weyland-Yutani and clearing out their colony so that the profit could still be made. There were no survivors here, he knew that. The marines knew that. Everyone knew that. They were fighting an alien menace that wasn't harming anyone anymore, even if they had slaughtered those who had lived here before. The truth is, it was for the company. For the government. Did they really expect them all to believe it was revenge for what had happened to the colonist? The elite doesn't care that much about lowly citizens like a doctor or a botanist, no. His life was lost for greed but they would write "honor" on a label and smack it across a memorial somewhere on his home world.

Except they also wouldn't even do that, because this mission was a secret. The public would never hear about it. The darkness of the ice colony was slightly disturbed every now and then by bright lights and bombs exploding, and it's deafening silence sometimes had creatures screaming and shrieking. As time passed, the radio buzzed on the dead marines ear....now buried under a thick layer of snow, along with the rest of him.

" We did it! We won! We got em all!" They bragged and cheered, throwing up words like " Yee haw!" and " Take that alien shits!" as their voices boomed with excitement. They had won the battle. But not with this marine in the snow. They had killed every Xenomorph, cleared the eggs and slayed the Queen. They had completed their mission.

And not one of them would even notice that this marine was gone. That he was not standing next to them, that he was not going to be in his Cyro Pod on the Sulaco. The pod that if one were to look inside of and examine, would find several pictures of a little boy and a beautiful wife with gorgeous brown eyes. When the squads returned to the Sulaco and the Sulaco warped away at light speed, the marines would re-enter their own cyro-pods.

None would notice that of those pods remained empty. That those bodies that were inside at the start of this day, were now laying somewhere else. But being caught up in their own glory and excitement, none would care. Hyper sleep, that is all the survivors could think about as they drifted off into dreamland and the Sulaco warped through space towards it's next objective and mission....

...The janitor of the Sulaco crew would walk around the Cyro-pods, reaching in and gathering all personal artifacts. Throwing them in a black plastic trash back on his cart, as he whistled a tune and went on about his mundane day. Before his shift was over, he would stop by an "disposal unit" and dump the contents of the bag inside. Ejecting them into space.

On a Thursday evening the mother of a 15 year old son would receive an official email detailing about her husband suffered an stroke in his hyper sleep. About how he didn't survive. It would tell of how it was an pointless accident and how the Colonial Marine corps was deeply sorry for her loss. She would weep, realizing she would have to break the news to their child when he got home from school...

...As on the other side of the universe, an corpse wearing an marine corps uniform sat frozen, under several layers of snow and ice. Forgotten. Given barely a seconds thought. Nobody would ever know it was here. On this dark, freezing world full of nothing but ruins and dead over sized insects.

But if someone did see it. If someone had dug it up? And if someone had asked it if honor was worth dying for?
It's silence would be its answer.

[Dirty Old Harry]

Well this wasn't half a bad read, props to you bud.

[KeyWii]

Hey that was pretty neat

[Casgair]

Yeah that was a nice read, although the term "Alpha Captain" was kind of distracting as someone of that rank (which is above Commander) would not be part of any squad, they'd be back on the ship directing the Command staff, assuming he or she was on the ship to begin with. If specifically the Alpha SL, "Alpha Sergeant" would probably suffice; if it was Command giving the order, (Alpha) Bridge Officer / (Alpha) Lieutenant or Commander.

[Recounted]

fuck that was depressing

[shyshadow]

*Claps* Man, that was a real good read, 9/10 Pal, makes you think long and hard about what actually happens after Marines Win.

[YungCuz]

This had a pretty deep meaning.

[danmax67]

9/10 not enough friendly fire

[Dapper Stache]

I liked the meaning behind it, and the way it portrayed the marines and Wey-Yu as almost mechanical. Good job.