Aliens: Resistance (Defiance sequel)

[The Old One]

True.

[Perfect-Organism]

But if WY knew, then why send one measly squad to LV-426.

I've got a bad feelin' about this drop.

[SiL]

Again, not WY; it was the government.

The problem becomes "If the Company knew, how could Burke be the only one trying to look into it." He clearly thought he could get exclusive rights by trying to be sneaky, but if others knew, he'd surely have competition.

[SM]

Yep.

Burke was handling Ripley's case and didn't even know if what she said was true.  And the Company had no inkling what was happening on LV-426 until after Burke had left - maybe not even till after the events of Aliens.

[Perfect-Organism]

But then why even bother terraforming LV-426?  If it had valuable minerals, surely those could have been strip-mined away, and if it were not interesting from a mineral perspective, but rather as a hospitable place to build a colony on, well what is there that would justify choosing it as a possible location?

[SM]

From the original script.

                                  RIPLEY
                           (to Burke)
                    What about you?  What's your
                    interest in this?

                                   BURKE
                    Well, the corporation co-financed
                    that colony with the Colonial
                    Administration, against mineral
                    rights.  We're getting into a lot
                    of terraforming...'Building Better
                    Worlds.'

ADF also added some details about LV-426 saying there was plenty of methane which was ideal for terraforming.

It wasn't set up so they could get Aliens.

[Still Collating...]

And for the better. That'd be one lame conspiracy that would make no sense. I hate that idea IMO. It's a colony like all others.

[Corporal Hicks]

I'm pretty sure River of Pain has WY's interest in the colony being specifically for the Derelict.

[Xenomrph]

Yep.

Burke was handling Ripley's case and didn't even know if what she said was true.  And the Company had no inkling what was happening on LV-426 until after Burke had left - maybe not even till after the events of Aliens.

I guess the assumption becomes, Burke acted *so fast* that the Sulaco was dispatched to LV-426 before Ripley's testimony made it into the hands of anyone else in the Company with knowledge of the myriad other Alien research/capture projects.

The last chapter in the Colonial Marines Tech Manual implies that at least the people talking in that chapter are blindsided by Burke's plan, and themselves have no knowledge of other Alien projects when they put Epsilon Eridani (aka Michael Bishop's trip to Fury 161) and their own mission to LV-426 into motion.

[Corporal Hicks]

I could honestly see that kind of clusterf**k happening, especially within an organisation as large as W-Y. I see "left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing" all the time.

[SiL]

I'm pretty sure River of Pain has WY's interest in the colony being specifically for the Derelict.

But then why not just ... tell them about it to begin with? Why sit there for decades doing nothing?

[Xenomrph]

I could honestly see that kind of clusterf**k happening, especially within an organisation as large as W-Y. I see "left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing" all the time.

Oh absolutely. I see it happen in real life with work teams of, like, 2 (two) people.

A fun angle for a future story could be something like "two Company hotshots get the same lead on Alien specimens independent of each other, they assemble separate teams and run into each other at [Planet/Colony/Space Station X], chaos ensues as they backstab each other to try and cut each other out of the potential profits".

I'm pretty sure River of Pain has WY's interest in the colony being specifically for the Derelict.

But then why not just ... tell them about it to begin with? Why sit there for decades doing nothing?

That's the million dollar question.

My rationalization for "Special order 937" and the events of 'Aliens' are that somebody within Company received the Derelict's signal but couldn't triangulate it, so they guesstimated its location and sent the closest ship (the Nostromo) in a straight line until it got to the signal (LV-426) and the automated systems stopped the ship and woke everyone up. The events of 'Alien' happen and the Company has no idea it just lost a ship until it's overdue for its return to Earth, meanwhile the Derelict's signal vanishes (Dallas shuts it off/an earthquake breaks it/Marlow switches it off, take your pick). So whoever orchestrated Special order 937 is now out one expensive ship and has nothing to show for it and no way to follow up because the signal is gone, so they quietly sweep it under the rug and pretend nothing ever happened.
Decades later, the colony on LV-426 is established through sheer coincidence.

[SiL]

You just explained the actual plot of the movies . I meant that if any story goes with "They put the colony there specifically for the Derelict", it doesn't make any sense.

[Corporal Hicks]

I'm pretty sure River of Pain has WY's interest in the colony being specifically for the Derelict.

But then why not just ... tell them about it to begin with? Why sit there for decades doing nothing?

I can't remember the specifics of it. I'm due a re-read.

[The Old One]

I'm pretty sure River of Pain has WY's interest in the colony being specifically for the Derelict.

But then why not just ... tell them about it to begin with? Why sit there for decades doing nothing?

Sh... Don't tell anyone, but it's because the entire novel trilogy is contrived nonsense.