<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Chapter 1: Arrival </strong><br/></span><br/><br/>The  US Navy starship moved silently through the blackness of space. As the U.S.S. Anchorage approached LV-703 the ship began to activate it's dormant systems and slowly come fully online, first the life support, then the lights, them several minutes later the cryo room came online, slowly defrosting the sleeping marines of  Alpha Platoon's 1st Squad. The platoons 2nd and 3rd squads were on route aboard their own respective ships in order to rendezvous with 1st squad.<br/><br/>After a few more minutes the tubes finally opened up. FATHER, the supercomputer in charge of and connected to all US Military computer systems, had completed the resuscitation procedures and every marine’s bio-signs were reading at 100 percent. 1st squad has survived their journey through space and now there was scarcely enough time to eat, square away gear, and receive orders before they reached LV-703 the planet that the Weyland-Yutani research station Orion orbited.<br/><br/><hr/>Roughly three hours had passed since the ship had awoken its human cargo and now as the vessel began to enter orbit of LV-703 the mission could truly begin. Since entering sensor range the Anchorage had scanned and re-scanned the system and the planet for any signs of enemy activity. 1st Squad's squad leader had been given a brief on the information collected so that he could disseminated it to hi squad as he saw fit...<br/><br/>Other than the station itself, no ships had been detected in the system.  But wreckage that matched several of Weyland-Yutani's private security 'gun cutters' had been identified. In addition to this no transmissions had been received from the station in response to the Anchorage's repeated attempts to hail the Orion.<br/><br/>Given this data FATHER had determined that someone or something had attacked the Weyland-Yutani security force present at the station, deposited forces on the station, and then retreated out of scanner range of the planet. Furthermore he had provided a 78.37 percent probability that some form of hostile forces were still present on the station.<br/><br/>1st squad's immediate objectives to carry out in order to lay groundwork for the re-taking of the station and the elimination of any hostiles had then been issued. 1st Squad was to act as on site reconnaissance until the arrival of 2nd and 3rd squads. In order to achieve this they would deploy to the Orion. Boarding the station via the executive hangar bay. Once inside the station they were to make their way to the station's control room and assume control of the station's systems. At which pour they were to review the station's security files and logs for evidence of what occurred and await re-enforcement from 2nd and 3rd squads before clearing the station and then, potentially, the planet.<br/><br/><hr/>In the Anchorage's hanger bay the marines began to board their drop ship. FATHER dutifully, counted down the time till departure, announcing as each minute passed. At the two minute mark the drop ship's engines began to run, as the small craft ship prepared to depart from the belly of it's transport. Once the final seconds passed by FATHER said, in his ever consistent monotone voice "All preparations for ship to ship boarding operations are now complete. Initializing combat drop."<br/><br/><br/>The ramp into the drop ship slowly closed with a precision of timing that only an operation run by a computer could achieve.<br/><br/><hr/><strong>1st Squad, Inside Dropship</strong><br/><br/>The drop ship's pilot's voice came loud and clear over the speakers "All right ladies and gents....lets do this!" The drop ship was slowly lowered down by it's docking arm. FATHER opened the belly of the Mitchum, "Prepare for docking release in T minus 5....4.....3.....2.....1......Release!" the pilot called out.<br/><br/>The drop ship gave a hard lurch as it pulled away from it's docking harness and began to move under it's own power. Flying smoothly for a few seconds before it neared the LV-703  and began to be buffeted by the planet's outer atmosphere as it used the planet's gravity to aid it on it's 'slingshot" intercept course with the Orion.   "The atmo's a bit thick on this world! It's gonna be one helluva ride!" the pilot called out his voice betraying his excitement and obvious adrenalin high.<br/><br/><br/>A second later the craft began to shake, first only slightly almost imperceptibly so, but after 30 seconds it was almost as if the drop ship was jumping around in midair, jerking from left to right, up to down, and every direction in between. The drop ship's hull could be heard groaning under the stress of fighting  LV-703's gravity in order to avoid emerging too far into the planet's atmosphere. As the drop ship moved closer and closer to the research station  its trajectory began to change. The pilot did his best to keep the change as unnoticeable as possible. Just like he had been trained to, ideally the marines' bodies wouldn't even notice that they had stopped 'looping' and were moving on a straightl path until it had already happened. The shaking seemed to get worse and worse as the ride went on until finally three minutes later the shaking gave way to a sudden stillness "Now THAT was fun!" the pilot called out. Grinning as he did "Alright I'm bringing her in towards the station's hangar bay. Touch down in T minus 30 seconds. Once you've disembarked I'll hold position in the hangar until given other orders." The pilot was a Captain and as far as he was concerned he didn't need to follow some ground pounding lieutenant's schedule. "If you need evac give me a heads up and I'll have us ready to split before you get back."<br/>