Just another Awakening Pitch

As soon as I finished writing an outline for what the Alien Covenant prequel novel could have (or rather should have) been, I turned my thoughts towards what a proper Covenant sequel would entail. I bashed it out in under two hours based on long-gestating ideas of mine and stuff that popped into my head after initially seeing the film. Again, more of a first draft subject to tweaking (at this point it feels a bit uneven but speculative suggestions could help), but this is how Awakening would wrap up David's storyline and directly lead into Alien without leaning on traditional Alien creatures.

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Much like Covenant taking place 10 years after its predecessor, Awakening takes place another 10 years into the future, bringing events extremely close to Alien. As far as Weyland Yutani knows, the Covenant reached Origae 6 as projected, but all communications ceased and the company really wants to know why, especially as detachable pieces of the ship were discovered in space, as if the crew discarded them along the way. A rescue ship crewed by experienced SAR (search-and-rescue) personnel and a couple of company executives has arrived at the planet without incident and initial scans reveal that the atmospheric readings and topographical layouts are so radically different from their past scans that it’s practically uninhabitable now. Multiple attempts to survey the planet via probes and drones prove unsuccessful. One of the company executives orders a team to find out what’s going on down there firsthand and assigns their own synthetic to accompany them. That synthetic is revealed to be none other than…ASH!

Fully suited and equipped, the rescue team descends to the surface of Origae 6 and the first things they find are ginormous, organic hive-like structures. The landscape is initially devoid of life, but one of the team members is attacked by a hostile, water-based lifeform that shares xenomorph characteristics (particularly in the face), but it’s more snake-like. The xeno snake kills the team member by damaging his suit and exposing him to the toxic atmosphere. The team members are also attacked by flying xenos, but they manage to kill the xeno snake, which Ash collects as a specimen, and get the hell out.

Studying the lifeform, Ash enthralls his corporate superiors with his findings and strongly recommends more expeditions to the surface, much to the outrage of the crew. Another expedition reaches the planet, this time more equipped to deal with the threats of which they now know. They even set up neat sentry guns that are designed to shoot down any aerial resistance. Among their eerie findings include a graveyard/dumping ground for human and non-human remains as well as a makeshift island in the middle of a roiling sea (primitively reminiscent of one of Giger’s Neconomicon structures).

The team trek towards the structure and find a number of experiments inside (much like David’s citadel in Covenant). While they don’t find any human occupants, they find a more advanced-looking xenomorph which attacks and kills one of their own, revealing another, and another, until the structure is overrun by the aliens. Two of the team members are abducted by the xenos while the rest are slaughtered. Naturally, the company executives care more about losing data than lives.

The remaining crew members know that they’ve entered a hopeless situation and make efforts to turn against their company contingent on board the ship, but this fails and the company assumes full control of the operation. Ash, who was not wiped out by the advanced xenos, tells one of the executives that this planet is a goldmine of endless possibilities and has followed the xenos (and their captives) to one of the organic hive structures.

Ash ventures inside and sees the scope of how complex and horrifying these hives are. Running into one of the cocooned team members, Ash callously ignores his pleas for help as the cocoon itself impregnates him in a way not seen in previous Alien stories. The idea is that Origae 6 has produced a radically different version of the xenomorph species, including its lifecycle. Finally, Ash encounters David, or rather, what David has become. It appears as if David had found a way to become one with the hive structure at some point and willingly sacrificed himself to achieve another state of being with his own creations.

Meanwhile, the other cocooned team member finds a way to escape her confines and narrowly avoids several mutated creatures (again, xeno-based but different) before confronting Ash herself. Ash proves to be just as taken with these strange creations as David once was and tries to kill her in order to preserve the secret of this planet’s existence for Weyland Yutani. The heroine manages to gravely wound Ash and escape the hive, but not before planting a bomb that the team leader brought with him to destroy the planet-bound abominations once and for all. In spite of her pleas for rescue, the ship leaves and the hive explodes, decimating the landscape.

Later, a professional Weyland Yutani team (similar to the one we saw at the end of Alien 3) hone in on Ash’s mobile beacon and find him severely damaged amidst the ruins of the alien landscape. At a WY base on the planet Thedus, Ash is repaired and approached by one of the executives, who tells him that there must be greater opportunities beyond the ones they found (and lost) on Origae 6. Luckily for them, one of their deep space probes has detected an unusual, non-human transmission in the Zeta II Reticulii system where a scientific expedition was lost 30 years before. The company figures sending Ash with another crew to investigate would suit his prior knowledge and interest. Ash gives a cold, reassuring smile as we hear the haunting wail of the distress signal sounds through the cold, unforgiving depths of space.

THE END

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As you can see, I wanted to wrap up David's story and use Ash as the connective tissue between this story and Alien. One could argue that it betrays the twist from the original film, but it explains not only how the company became interested in the possibilities of the signal emanating from LV 426, but reinforces Ash's presence on the Nostromo (being somewhat of an expert already). I actually wanted to feature David in a greater capacity; perhaps another run through will improve on that. Needless to say, things didn't end well for Daniels, Tennessee, and the colonists, but that was to be expected since people have the worst luck in the Alien-verse. Let me know what you guys think!