You know things aren’t going to go well when you make an android that looks like Michael Fassbender. Especially on the USCSS Covenant.
The tale of the USCSS Covenant is a lesson in what happens when you make multiple androids full of milk that look the same. It’s also, I guess, a lesson in how a colony ship can have even more go wrong than a freighter or a research station. And it all starts with what should have been one of the Earth’s great triumphs. Because before it was a hotbed of experimental xenomorphs, the Covenant was the Earth’s first-ever large scale colony ship.
USCSS Covenant – Design and Capabilitieis
The USCSS Covenant was designed with one thing in mind: transportation. Not just of cargo. Or of passengers. But of hope. A future. A new generation that would grow up knowing life among the stars.
To that end, it was built to endure a long journey through space. Measuring at 1,200 meters in length, the Covenant featured a suite of solar sails that could keep its energy stores recharged when needed. The solar system meant that the colony ship could dispense with extra fuel storage – freeing up more space for cargo and passengers. Though recharging was by no means the fastest – a full recharge could take more than thirty days.
The Covenant and ships like it (others in the Affiance-class colony ship line) made extensive use of a MU/TH/R system, and needed only a minimal crew. With fifteen individuals (and a synthetic operator), the ship could carry a robust manifest of equipment and tools. Notably, a single Affiance-class ship came with two Class E Lander-Type Drop Shuttles as well as a suite of 6×6 Terra-Trucks and other colonial construction vehicle.
As well, the ship carried a crew of 2,000 colonists, and 1,400 second-generation embryos stored in a specialized compartment known as the “nursery.”
For thrust, the Covenant boasted an array of plasma engines, each with its own dedicated engine room, and placed around the ship. But perhaps the pride and joy of this line of ships was the terraforming module,w hich included an automated atmosphere processing module, capable of burning away toxic atmosphere or helping to convert the harshest worlds into habitable planets.
It All Goes Wrong
Of course, all the equipment in the world couldn’t prepare the crew and passengers of the USCSS Covenant for what was about to happen to it. More on that in a moment. But even before its fateful launch, the Covenant was attacked by what Weyland-Yutani dubbed to be “cultists.” A group calling itself the Earthsavers attacked the ship driven by the nightmares of their prophet – believed to be signs of a doom awaiting humanity outside of the Sol System.
Once it managed to launch, the ship made its long journey. However tragedy befell the colony vessel en route. After a stellar ignition in Sector 106, the Covenant was hit with a massive shockwave while recharging its systems. The aftermath left the vessel severely damaged and necessitated the awakening of the ship’s crew.
After the fiery loss of the ship’s captain, the Covenant’s Chief of Life Sciences assumed command of the mission, and in an attempt to makere pairs detected a distress call from a nearby sector – one that came from a planet that seemed to be a perfect candidate for human habitation.
The crew altered course for the source of the transmission, only to find that there was a crashed ship from an unknown alien species on the planet. And as you might imagine, it wasn’t long before xenomorphs showed up and started killing everyone.
Only this time, they were xenomorphs designed by none other than David 8. After the Prometheus expedition, David had been experimenting with the pathogen in an attempt to create an alien Queen. During the mission, David replace the ship’s other, almost identical android, Walter, and took control of the colonists, embryos, and crew – sealed away in hyper-sleep chambers, ready to experiment with thousands of human subjects. A wave of terrifying new creations, unleashed upon the stars.
It’s always the androids, isn’t it?
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