Lyra's POV:
"Call the dropship. We need to get out of here now." Hudson said. Hick began to call them and all of us stood on the rocks of the planet. The ship was coming towards us and Hicks said "shit! Everyone get down!" My eyes widened and Maia stared up at the ship. Billy grabbed her and Call's mouth hung agape. "Call! Get down!" I said. She stood frozen in place. I grabbed her arm, pulling her to the ground with me. The ship crashed, exploding. Hudson and Hicks stood up. "Well, that's great! That's just fucking great, man!" Hudson said. Hicks grabbed him by his shirt and said "are you finished?" "I guess we're not going to be leaving now, right?" Newt asked. Ripley frowned at her and said "I'm sorry, Newt." I stood up and Call panted. "Are you ok?" I asked her. She nodded and I pulled her up to her feet. "I'm fine." She smoothed out her skirt she was wearing and sighed. "You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault." Newt said to Ripley. "That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?" Hudson said. Carter sighed and said "maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?" I looked at him and said "dumbass." Billy scoffed at him and Blaze said "nice." "We'd better get back cause it'll be dark soon and they mostly come out at night. Mostly." Newt said.

We all went inside a building so we'd be safe, everyone sitting down. Ripley said "how long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?" "Seventeen days." Hicks states. Hudson looked up at him and said "seventeen *days*? Hey man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen hours! Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before! They're gonna come in here.."

"Hudson!" "And they're gonna come in here AND THEYRE GONNA GET US!" Call's eyes widened and David tilted his head. "That'd probably increase our chances to get off of this planet." He said. Max scoffed while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons or no training." Ripley said as she gestured to Newt. Newt saluted her and Cossete kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you put *her* in charge?" Hudson retorted. I patted Hudson's back and said "relax. It'll be fine. A long time ago, my team and I were stranded on a planet just like this. And we all made it off." "Most of us." Billy said. I eyed him and David said "that is true. Walter did not make it back." "Neither did Teddy and Donovan. But do we really need to discuss that?" I asked. David didn't say anything. Maia furrowed her eyebrows and said "who's Walter." Blaze shook his head and sighed. "Well, somebody's gonna have to go out there. Take a portable terminal, and patch in the ship manually." Ripley said. "Oh yeah, sure! With those things running around? You can count me out." Hudson said. Hicks rolled his eyes and said "yeah, I guess we can just count you out of everything, Hudson." "I'll go." Bishop muttered. "That's right, man." Hudson retorted. "I'll go." Bishop said again. "Hey, why don't *you* go, man!" Hudson yelled. I grabbed his arm and said "calm down." "I'll go." Bishop said louder. "What?" Ripley asked. "I'll go. I mean, I'm the only one qualified to remote-pilot the ship anyway." Bishop bragged. Hudson nodded and said "yeah right, man, Bishop should go." Vasquez looked at Hudson with disgust and Bishop said "believe me, I'd prefer not to. I may be synthetic but I'm not stupid." "I can get rid of them." Halo said, metal rods sliding out of her knuckles. Her father put his hand on her shoulder and Blaze said "no. You don't need to do that."

Hudson shook his head and his breath hitched. I patted his back again and said "calm down. We'll be fine." He nodded and I half smiled at him. Hawk looked at him and said "chill." Hudson nodded again and Vasquez said "all right. We got seven canisters of CM-20. I say we roll them in there and nerve gas the whole fucking nest." "It's worth the try, but we don't know if that's going to affect them." Hicks replied. "Look, let's just bug out and call it even, okay? What the hell are we even talking about this for?" Hudson asked. Ripley shrugged and said "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Hudson scoffed in agreement and said "fuckin' a!"

"Hold on, hold on just a second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it." Carter said. Zane looked at him and said "wow you care about the money that this place brings you?" "They can *bill* me." Ripley said to Carter. "Ok, I know this is an emotional moment for all of us ok? I know that. But let's not make snap judgements, please. This is clearly...clearly an important species we're dealing with and I don't think that you or I, or *anybody*, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them." Carter said.

Call furrowed her eyebrows and said "they are dangerous. Why are we even trying to protect them? They killed half of our marine corps. Strong, amazing soldiers, dead because of these, these-" "Xenomorphs." Maia said. "Yes, Xenomorphs. They're not all that dangerous. They actually-" Calypso covered her husbands mouth and said "we need to get rid of them. Immediately." "Thats the decision. We don't need to talk about this any further." Hicks said as he walked across the room. Carter huffed and sat down. Hudson sat down and I said "hey, we'll be ok." He looked up at me and said "you think so?" I nodded and Billy said "it's good. Don't freak out."

Halo messed with Blaze while Zane was talking to Max. Hawk was staring at Maia do some really weird trick David had taught her. Cossete walked over and sat next to Arlo, who was trying to stay awake. Newt was on the floor and I knelt down and said "you wanna sit with the other kids?" She shrugged and Cossete saw that her sister desperately wanted to be with the other kids but was scared. She walked over to Newt, her huge dress moving with her as she went. "Come on. Lyra will sit with us. And Calypso." Cossete said as she held her hand out. Newt took it and stood up.

"So, what was it like living here?" Zane asked Newt. She shrugged and said "it was ok. There were only a few families here so there wasn't many little kids." "Well, you're with us now. And we all protect each other." Hawk said. Maia nodded in agreement and said "we also have a lot of fun together." Hawk smiled at her and she did the same back. "Some of us have been here longer than others and know more about the aliens." Max retorted. Halo leaned on Blaze's arm and he put his arm around her. "Do any of you have big brothers and sisters? Like me?" Newt asked. Max raised her hand and said "I do. See the big guy with the mullet? The hairstyle from centuries ago?" Billy turned around and said "shut up, Max." "Thats my older brother. Billy." She said. "You see the red head? She talks like she's better than everyone else. That's my little sister, Max." Billy said as he rolled his eyes. Max eyed him and Zane said "Arlo is my older brother. The one that's sleeping on the couch." Cossete looked over at Arlo and Newt said "why is he sleeping?" "You all should get some sleep. We might be here a while until Bishop gets a ship here. I think Ripley found some beds, so everyone come on." We all stood up and walked into a medical type room. There were beds everywhere and Max sat down on a bed. "We're getting off this planet, right?" Max asked. I nodded and said "yes. Of course." Hawk sat on a bed across from Max and Calypso set Maia down on a bed across from Newt. Zane laid down and instantly fell asleep. Call walked into the room and made sure everyone had a place to lay. She saw a spider sitting in a spider web. She stared at it and said "this place is old. We need to get off of here."

Max put a strand of hair behind her ear and Hawk smiled as his mother kissed his head. Halo hugged her father before falling asleep. Cossete laid in the same bed with Newt and we all left the children in the room.

Here's the update!
~skylar☁️✨☁️✨