Was Burke working Ripley from the beginning?

[RagingDragon]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, probably has, but on my 7-millionth re-viewing of Aliens, I can't help but wonder if Burke was assigned to Ripley on purpose, and knew something about the Xenomorph all along.

His scenes at Gateway and during the inquest give me the impression he could be representing a covert corporate agenda, even if the alien itself was unknown to him.

Maybe a superior assigned him to Ripley specifically, due to his loyalty to the company, without telling him any specifics.  They could've just tasked him with digging up whatever he could find about the Nostromo incident, even further than what Van Leuwen and the ICC were able to reveal.

The only two options are that the company had no clue about the Xenomorph or LV-426, meaning that whoever was responsible for the Alien debacle wiped the records clean, or they knew of it but maybe not specifics, not the planet or the region of the planet, perhaps?

This could lead into a grand conspiracy hinting at Hadley's Hope being established as a front in order for WY to search for a Derelict that had gone missing, and couldn't be picked up by scans of any kind.  It wouldn't be a 'front' necessarily, because the colony has its own reasons for being there, but it would help explain why they would set up shop out on 426, a planet in the middle of nowhere, cosmically speaking.

I'm sure the Colonial Marines game will touch on some of this.  Thoughts?

[SM]

The only agenda Burke was working for was the Burke Get Rich (TM) agenda.

This could lead into a grand conspiracy hinting at Hadley's Hope being established as a front in order for WY to search for a Derelict that had gone missing, and couldn't be picked up by scans of any kind.  It wouldn't be a 'front' necessarily, because the colony has its own reasons for being there, but it would help explain why they would set up shop out on 426, a planet in the middle of nowhere, cosmically speaking.

Listen closely my evil corporate minions!  We will set up a colony on a planet of hostile organisms as a front so we can exploit said hostile organisms with plausible deniability, and we shall reap the rewards - IN TWENTY YEARS OR SO!!!  AFTER WAITING THIRTY YEARS ALREADY!!!!  BWAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!

[Local Trouble]

I have little doubt that whoever originally issued Special Order 937 to Mother and replaced the Nostromo's science officer with Ash probably buried all evidence of the whole thing after the Nostromo went missing.  It's not exactly the kind of fiasco that your average corporate executive wants to take credit for.

Fast forward 57 years later.  Burke gets assigned this Ripley case and she tells him this wild story about a hostile organism on LV-426.  His head is filled with visions of dollar signs and swimming in a vault full of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, so he sends an order to the colony administrators instructing them to have the location of this "derelict ship" investigated.

[Inverse Effect]

Gonna shitstorm here and say that Wayland company has known about the Aliens and Predators all along. Since the AVP Incidents. They knew what happened in Alien, and even in prometheus. (Which has Alien DNA lol)

When Ripley asked Burke about why here wass going. It sounded like a lame ass exuse on his part and all along he wanted Ripley to go back and him to go to return back knowledge of the aliens.

Hadelys hope being setup for the all reason of the derelict is is another one of my theorys. I doubt any information suvived from the Nostromo. 50 years had past and they still didnt have any information about the derelict or where it was. Then Ripley comes along and she suvived. So thus the company is like "Hot damn this alien really does exist!"

[SM]

They knew what happened in Alien,

I doubt any information suvived from the Nostromo. 50 years had past and they still didnt have any information about the derelict or where it was.

So did they know what happened in Alien or didn't they?

(Clue - the latter)

[Promethée]

The only agenda Burke was working for was the Burke Get Rich (TM) agenda.

Honestly I think that it is as simple as that, Burke is just a greedy c*nt.

People tend to give way too much credit to the company.

[SM]

Precisement.

[Local Trouble]

I gotta figure that Burke had cohorts who were at least keeping an eye on the Sulaco's mission though.  Otherwise, it seems awfully weird that the company men in Alien 3 were so well-informed about the alien and prepared to deal with it.

[SM]

Ripley's testimony + data from marines cams + "the Company knows about everything that happened on the ship" = he didn't need cohorts.  All it needs it for some to twig what's going on when the Hadley data hits the network.

[Local Trouble]

Okay.  So at what point do you figure Michael Bishop took a direct interest in the whole thing?

[SM]

When the Company told him to.

[chupacabras acheronsis]

Otherwise, it seems awfully weird that the company men in Alien 3 were so well-informed about the alien and prepared to deal with it.

They were laughably unprepared though. They were wearing dog catching suits and plastic bags with sunglasses.

At most they'd have read Ripley's report(on disk), which i figure would do them as much good as it did to the marines.