Colony Rescue on LV-426

[Ted C]

A squad of twenty troops is landed on the "Hadley's Hope" terraforming colony on LV-426 to determine why all contact was lost with the colony. A few hundred colonists are missing. The mission is to determine what happened to the colonists and rescue them, if necessary/possible.

The colony has, of course, been overrun by xenomorph aliens, and most of the colonists have been captured and used to breed more xenomorphs.

Units for comparison:
- Federation troops sent to the colony in a single Runabout.
- Imperial Stormtroopers sent to the colony in a single Lambda-class shuttle.
- EarthForce GROPOS sent to the colony in an atmospheric shuttle.
- An SGC team delivered by Stargate.

The Colonial Marines in the original scenario had the Sulaco in orbit, but there is no equivalent in most other settings of a warship which has no crew other than the squad of marines it's supposed to deliver, so there is no capship support in any of these scenarios. The only resources available are what we could normally expect such a team to bring with them on the specified transport.

[Batman]

How much information does the respective teams have? I'm asking because the SGC team might actually have seen the movie and, assuming the setup remains the same, have a distinct advantage over the others by virtue of knowing exactly what is going on.

[Nephtys]

I can't imagine most of these going particularly well.

Stormtroopers have shown clumsiness and vulnerability to being stabbed. Their guns also likely are going to be even worse in the confines of the terraforming complex for fear of damaging the systems.
There's no reason to think the B5 guys would do any better. We don't see or know anything of them in action.
Redshirts are going to be horrifically butchered due to lack of serious military training. Though their tricorders may actually pick up the aliens and give them a little warning.
The SGC is pretty much exactly the same as the colonial marines in terms of what they can do.

[Crazedwraith]

I guess when you say an SG team, you actually mean about five Sg teams. Since they're generally four man units. (aside from the specialist archaeological teams)

Imperials are going to do well obviously. Assuming they survive the initial xenomorph ambush. Are storm troopers allowed to retreat? They probably don't leave their ship doors unlocked and won't have a problem with hosing down the area with its laser cannon untill the reactor goes boom.

Tricorders are going to give the Federation an edge in detecting xenomorph. A hell of a lot better than Ir scopes and motion detectors. So they might conceivably manage to avoid being ambushed to start with but actually fighting the xenomorph will depend greatly on phaser's effectiveness. Which is a very 'power of plot thing'. The runabouts transport might be very good for quick extraction. They might even just beam the colonists straight to them rather than blundering into the nest. But then they would have the problem of newborn chestbursters. (assuming biofilters wouldn't work on them)

EarthForce. no idea. Is that B5 or something?

SG team, assuming they've not seen aliens. They've got no sensors and no vehicle back up which were more or less the only things keeping the Colonial Marines alive. They'll fare very poorly if they wander into the ambush and won't have an apc to escape from it easily.

[Captain Seafort]

The redshirts are probably going to do best out of this: Starfleet SOP is to leave the ship in orbit and beam down. This prevents any xenomorphs boarding the runabout and crashing it (which was when things really started to go downhill for the marines). Both the B5 lot and the stormies are vulnerable to this, and the SG team will have to fight their way back to the gate, inevitably taking casualties en route.

If you run the whole scenario, then things get even worse for the non-redshirts, as all the groups mentioned are light infantry, rather than armoured infantry as the marines were - it was only Ripley's charge into the hive in their IFV that saved the entire unit from being wiped out, and without that support the ones who can't beam out are are stuffed. Of course, it's entirely possible that the hive's surroundings will block sensors and/or transporters, in which case the redshirts are also dead.

[PREDATOR490]

Federation soldiers = Gold Shirts with phaser rifles and little combat prowess
That said, Tricoders should be equal to the motion detector of the original marines if not much better. Thus the Feds can potentially detect the aliens and avoid any ambushes.
Weapon wise - Phasers should work and could potentially avoid acid splash which is going to be hilariously brutal on unarmored Gold uniforms. The ambush could easily be a disaster if some idiot decides to use wide-beam attacks but then again... those could be rather effective at suppressing and killing xenos.

Imperial Stormies - These guys wear heavy armor which could be more resistant to Acid Spash and their weapons should be more than capable of putting holes in Xenos. Dont their helmets have some sort of assisted targeting / vision stuff ?
Not that it really matters, if the Stormies have to put away their weapons into a bag that can explode - A thermal detonator can supposedly level a building... in a complex that is a nuclear reactor.

GROPOS - Essentially Colonial Marines without the super pulse rifles. Instead they get those PPGs which are supposedly designed not to put holes in walls. Thus, less chance of shooting holes in the reactor equipment. That said, PPGs were hardly that impressive so Xeno Acid Spash is still a danger and takes lots of shooting. The upside is - no flamethrower to set people on fire or otherwise detonate the explosives.

SGC Team - 20 Troops is the equivelent of 5 SG Teams of 4 soldiers. Essentially the Colonial Marines except they use P-90s. Those might not be heavy enough to cause issues with hitting the reactor which allows them to rip up Xenos rather effectively but it depends on the actual team composition. Not all of them are set up like the flagship teams.
With a Stargate on call... they can dial for help and any equipment they need. Keeping the Gate secure from Xenos should not be a problem.

The Colonial Marines had to get severely hit by the plot nerfstick inorder for the Xenos to gain any kind of traction. First the Marines have their weapons de-powered because if they hit the reactor it would cause the place to explode. Second, that stockpile of ammunition was then promptly ambushed by plot so that Mr. Flamethrower could set it off causing a world of mess for the Xenos to take advantage of. Without that initial Ambush and the colossal fuck up caused by the stockpiled ammo detonating any group would fair much better. Then we have the time factor introduced by the reactor going to explode anyway and the plot destruction of their rides.

All four groups should be more than capable of inflicting severe hurt on the Xenos even if they do get ambushed and that ambush is less likely to have the same effect.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

I'd also expect the Redshirts to do well here, and also largely based on sensors, and the Federation's policy of investigating before jumping in. They might not know what's going on when they get there, but they'll have a pretty good idea before they actually beam down. I see no reason that phasers would be ineffective against xenomorphs. (at higher settings, anyway, I don't expect stun to work)

[Batman]

If the Trek team goes in with the same knowledge the Marines had in the movie, and believe it (and chances are they've seen far weirder than the Xenomorphs) they can lick this with no fatalities by simply setting their weapons to 'make glow funnily and go away' which seems to be able to poof out of existence organic targets without so much as leaving a scorch on the carpet, so no worries about blowing up the atmosphere processing plant or having to deal with acid splash damage. The question is how long can phasers hold out on that setting.

[Darmalus]

I'd say the Redshirts have the best chance of success, but their biggest problem will be the slow firing rate of their weapons leaves them in the distinct danger of being overwhelmed by a rush, even if they don't need to worry about breaking the reactor or processor. AR-582 (?) showed that even prepared positions can be quickly overrun by an enemy willing to simply eat their losses and keep going.

[Batman]

If and when the user actually chooses to, phasers are continuous fire weapons. As long as the power cells hold out there's nothing keeping the Feds from going firehose on the xenomporphs.

[Ted C]

How much information does the respective teams have? I'm asking because the SGC team might actually have seen the movie and, assuming the setup remains the same, have a distinct advantage over the others by virtue of knowing exactly what is going on.

Exactly what Gorman's team of Colonial Marines had. Basically, Ripley's briefing.

[Ted C]

EarthForce. no idea. Is that B5 or something?

Yes. Troops with PPGs and light body armor. In their favor, PPGs are designed to avoid damaging bulkheads, so they might be safer to use in the reactor area.

[Batman]

PPG carbines were perfactly capable of cutting open a bulkhead in 'Endgame' so I wouldn't put too much stock in them being harmless to the furniture

[PREDATOR490]

The major issue I see with this situation is: All 4 of these groups are familiar with aliens while the Colonial Marines were not. They had an inexperienced leader brought in and Burke playing them to cover his ass.
Which resulted in Riply being largely ignored as being a crazy dumbass.

I fully expect all 4 groups to:
- take Riply a bit more seriously
- Not have a leader that is an idiot
- tell Burke to go fuck himself when he tries to wave the corporate flag

Even the Colonial Marines were sorta coming round to believing Riply when they were initially exploring the battle damage / outside of the xeno lair but then they get hit with the weapon nerf bat.
All 4 substitutes should be quicker on the uptake to trust Riply and be more cautious and the weapon aspects change considerably. The Marines were limited to Pulse Rifles, Smartguns and Flamethrowers.
The equipment of these groups tends to be more varied and flexible which should negate the ambush clusterfuck considerably to the point of it not happening or being a minor annoyance. Once the initial ambush is over, ALL of these groups have easy access to the means to leave the planet and it is unlikely a Xeno is going to be able to take out any of their transports.

[Skylon]

PPG carbines were perfactly capable of cutting open a bulkhead in 'Endgame' so I wouldn't put too much stock in them being harmless to the furniture

True, but it took concentrated fire from three or four guys as I remember.

[Batman]

It did. For, what, 15 seconds or so?

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well if you give the SG group a team from late series Atlantis they already have dealt with Xeno's before (Michaels crazy Xeno rip-off experiment)

Serious now:

Feds:
Pros: Tri-corders are probably a better sensor than the Marines motion trackers. Phasers are effective weapons when they need to be, and negate acid problems (when used on the vaporize setting). Can just beam down and keep ship safe.
Cons: No military training (at least in ground combat). No armor (largely negated by the Phasers).

Stormies:
Pros: Blasters are VERY effective weapons. Armor may work better against acid. Well-trained (when heros aren't invloved).
Cons: Blasters may make reactor go boom-boom. Shuttle is on the ground.

B5: Never seen it...so can't comment on this one.

SG team(s):
Pros: Real-world military training. P-90's aren't a danger to the reactor and should kill Xeno's (they were killed by modern weapons in AVP 2 if I remember right). The Stargate can be used to make a quick get-away and or call for backup.
Cons: No real armor. No motion trackers or other fancy sensors. Stargate needs to be defended at all times to avoid an ambush using it.

That's all I can think of for now.

[Darth Wong]

Honestly, it took multiple contrived Acts of Plot to make the humans do as poorly as they did in "Aliens". The dropship crew idiotically left the ship's ramp open for hours. When the xenomorph killed the dropship crew, it flew out of control and miraculously just happened to crash into both the APC and the power plant, causing critical damage which would eventually cause an explosion.

Realistically, force subs aren't even necessary. The Colonial Marines should be able to hold off alien attacks if the gods don't conspire to make everything turn against them. Xenomorphs really aren't that dangerous, as long as one takes reasonable precautions. Mind you, this particular force sub handicaps the rescue crew since they do not have an APC, unlike the Colonial Marine team in the movie.

Feddies: they can probably pick up the xenomorphs on their tricorders (after all, they can detect life signs), although not until after a few redshirts die. Their weapons are highly adjustable, so they can be used in the reactor complex. Their ethics code might, however, lead them to attempt to rescue impregnated colonists despite severe risk to their own safety. With Ripley's intel, they would probably realize that the colonists in the reactor complex are probably being used as incubators, but they would insist on trying to rescue them anyway.

Stormtroopers: the literature specifically says their armour is acid-resistant. We don't know if it's enough to stop alien acid, but it certainly gives them a better chance than the pajamas that the Feddies wear. Their weapons have adjustable output and will do the job without necessarily destroying hardware, and their sensors can detect life signs. Of all the groups here, they're the most ruthless, so they would probably be the first to say "fuck it" and pull out once they realize what happened to the colonists, especially with Ripley's intel.

B5 GROPOS: their weapons should do the job and can be fired with abandon inside the reactor complex, but they have inferior sensor technology compared to the Feds and Stormtroopers. Their body armour isn't going to help much.

Stargate: their tendency to use sub-machineguns on full auto means they'll use up their ammo pretty fast. Their best sensor technology will be the Mark 1 Eyeball, and they don't wear armour.

My prediction: Stormtroopers don't even bother trying to rescue the colonists once they realize they've all been taken away. Feddies take heavy losses trying to rescue the colonists because close-quarters combat is just miserable in that environment against creatures which move that quickly and scurry along walls, but they fight their way out and evacuate in the shuttle. GROPOS die. Stargate guys die, but not without some really clever one-liners.

[aussiemuscle308]

Stargate. the four heroes get back to the gate. one of the rouge teams brings and egg back and earth is taken over by the Xenomorphs.

Stormtroopers, all killed because they can't aim accurately.

Federation: aliens take over earth because SF are too spineless to commit genocide.

B5, they barely escape but mysterious aliens manage to steal Xenomorphs for their own biological weapon programmes.

[the atom]

Realistically, the Feddies would probably just avoid the messy 'lets shoot our way out' scenario by beaming themselves out once things begin to go pear-shaped and ensigns Bob and Joe get themselves horribly disembowelled.

Then again, that reactor might be giving off a lot of interference, so there's a not insignificant chance (depending on the needs of the plot) that transporters may not be an option.

Either way, it'd definitely be the best Star Trek episode/movie ever made.

[Grumman]

SG team(s):
Pros: Real-world military training. P-90's aren't a danger to the reactor and should kill Xeno's (they were killed by modern weapons in AVP 2 if I remember right). The Stargate can be used to make a quick get-away and or call for backup.
Cons: No real armor. No motion trackers or other fancy sensors. Stargate needs to be defended at all times to avoid an ambush using it.

If a double-tap with a zat works on xenomorphs, this would give them a way to avoid the acid blood problem.

[PeZook]

As long as any of these groups doesn't do the retarded "Let's completely disarm ourselves" thing they should do fine, or at least way better than the movie's marines did. Especially feddies, who might even be able to rescue the colonists without firing a shot: remember that the colonists had tracking beacons implanted in them? Just shut down the reactor and beam them up one by one. Even if they can't/it's too risky due to the reactor generating interference/being unable to shut it down, it's always a fallback option once they realize the reactor itself is a deathtrap. Rescuing more than 1 colonist and having more than two soldiers survive is still better than the movie

Except for the transporter trick, everybody else would do fine IF they don't unload all their weapons at the critical moment.

[Skylon]

As long as any of these groups doesn't do the retarded "Let's completely disarm ourselves" thing they should do fine, or at least way better than the movie's marines did. Especially feddies, who might even be able to rescue the colonists without firing a shot: remember that the colonists had tracking beacons implanted in them? Just shut down the reactor and beam them up one by one. Even if they can't/it's too risky due to the reactor generating interference/being unable to shut it down, it's always a fallback option once they realize the reactor itself is a deathtrap. Rescuing more than 1 colonist and having more than two soldiers survive is still better than the movie

And the Feddies then are horrified when:
A) The first colonists they beam out have their chests busted wide open.
B) They get a colonist who hasn't chest-busted but promptly does.

As for tricorders, while they should give a good edge in the sensor department I could just as easily imagine a plot device of "Because of radiation from the reactor our tricorders are useless!" Also, tricorders can be lousy at detecting life forms the UFP has never encountered, the Xenos could qualify.

Unless there is a specific, necessary resource I actually see this with the UFP saying "Fuck it" and placing the planet under quarantine. SGC I could see locking the planet from the dialing computer if they are unable to deal with the Xenos. Earthforce probably wouldn't be above "nuking the site from orbit." The Stormtroopers are the most likely to just go in and murder everything since the Imperials would likely not be too concerned with casualties.

[PeZook]

And the Feddies then are horrified when:
A) The first colonists they beam out have their chests busted wide open.
B) They get a colonist who hasn't chest-busted but promptly does.

And they can't just kill the chestbusters because...?

Chestbusters aren't dangerous, ESPECIALLY on a Federation ship where you have to use replicators to get food. So why are people pretending that a colonist being killed by one spells doom for everyone?

It spelled doom for crew of the Nostromo, who had no weapons, no internal sensors and only a handful of people to hunt this completely unknown threat.

[Darth Wong]

As long as any of these groups doesn't do the retarded "Let's completely disarm ourselves" thing they should do fine, or at least way better than the movie's marines did. Especially feddies, who might even be able to rescue the colonists without firing a shot: remember that the colonists had tracking beacons implanted in them? Just shut down the reactor and beam them up one by one. Even if they can't/it's too risky due to the reactor generating interference/being unable to shut it down, it's always a fallback option once they realize the reactor itself is a deathtrap. Rescuing more than 1 colonist and having more than two soldiers survive is still better than the movie

Except for the transporter trick, everybody else would do fine IF they don't unload all their weapons at the critical moment.

The movie marines actually weren't completely disarmed. They unloaded their AP rifles, but they still had their flamethrowers (and Vasquez and Drake just lied and kept her AP ammo). The environment they were in was just horrible for dealing with creatures which crawl on walls, so it would have been inevitable to take some casualties.