Disclaimer: I don't own Aliens. And for good measure, I don't own Shin Kamen Rider on which about ten percent of this idea is based.

Chapter 1

Testing

Lunar Military Research Base, Chief Staff Meeting, two years ago.

He stood at the end of a long oak conference table, General Baxter and the other military personal with high enough clearance glared down at him, along with the government stooges here only to ferret word of his progress back to their masters. The head scientists sat closest to him and their presence made him feel a tad more secure. He always felt nervous before these damn meetings.

Professor Tachibana cleared his throat. His grey hair had been washed and brushed for the occasion. He still felt keenly aware of the growing bald spot atop his head and wished for a hat. Still, he looked good for a man approaching his sixties.

"As you're all aware," the Professor began. "Project Chimera has proceeded well. We're almost ready to begin human testing."

One of the political stooges cleared his throat. Tachibana failed to recognize him. "Aren't you perhaps being a little hasty? Do you want a repeat of the Ripley 8 fiasco?"

"I'm sorry, Mister…"

"Samuel Porter."

"Mister Porter," Tachibana nodded. "You're new here so I'll make this quick. The incident to which you refer was the unfortunate result of ignorance. The parties involved obviously had no idea what they were doing. This is often the case when one is dealing with the aliens, but you'll find things are different here. We keep all our live specimens in cryosleep in secure containers and we fully intend to test the parameters of our creations, rather than just throwing them into a containment cell and playing with the more dangerous and uncontrollable xenomorphs. Furthermore, our test subjects will all be volunteers and made aware of all potential dangers. No unpredictable clones here."

"What makes you think anyone will want to volunteer for this project?" Porter asked.

Tachibana chuckled. Porter smelled another longwinded speech coming. The Professor's nervousness seemed to be gone now. A lot more thought had gone into the project than Porter put into his incessant worries.

"The terminally ill for one," Tachibana began. "We could revolutionize the medical industry with this! They are not our first choice though. We will begin with military volunteers, preferably those without much to lose. Once we see the results of that test, we'll began introducing the process to the public."

"I admire your naivety, Professor," General Baxter said. "But for the foreseeable future, the Chimera Project is strictly military. We plan to create a black ops unit if things go well."

The Professor stood speechless for a moment, staring at the General in surprise. He turned to his fellow scientists most of whom simply shrugged.

"Perhaps after a few years, we'll expand the project's scope to civilians," Baxter continued.

"Any other questions?" Tachibana asked his voice barely audible to the room.

Planet Ridley, somewhere in the Jaidee Desert, present day.

The small transport craft descended, kicking up a cloud of yellow sand as it neared the ground. Colonel Davis watched it with a frown. It set down and the engines became quiet.

Davis hated it when HQ stepped on his toes. His men could handle a small-scale terrorist group. However, HQ ordered them to wait for this fancy team.

He spent some time thinking the proceedings over and decided that the terrorists got themselves something that the higher-ups didn't want small fries like him seeing.

A ramp lowered from the rear of the craft and a small squad in combat gear descended it. A tall black-haired woman led the group, the commander of the little team. HQ named her as Lieutenant Lila McCollum, though Davis suspected the name to be an alias.

The Lieutenant stopped in front of him and raised her hand to her head. Davis hesitated a moment before returning the salute. Lila's expression betrayed no emotion.

One of her men stood beside her, also saluting. Davis found it shocking how thin the man was. His hands appears almost skeletal and his face shrunken and hollow. The Colonel's insides twisted uncomfortably when they made eye contact.

"Lieutenant McCollum," Lila introduced herself. "This is Sergeant Sanders."

Davis stared the two down. The rest of the special unit stood behind the two before him. They all appeared to be hardened military men, except for two who looked just as sickly as Sanders.

"Pleasure to meet you," he growled.

"What's the situation?" Lila asked.

"You've got our report-"

"Sir, I'd rather here it from someone on the site," Lila interrupted. "Please help me do my job, keep my team safe, and we'll be off your planet before sunset."

"All right then," Davis said.

"Man, I love the feel of those rays!" Ted exclaimed spreading his arms and rotating on the spot, letting the desert sun soak into his pale skin. He stretched his thin arms above his head, glad to be alive and out of cryo.

"This place is too hot," Ben complained, removing his helmet and rubbing an arm over his sweating brow. "What kind of nutcases decided to settle in this rural hellhole?"

"Watch it, Benny," Jones said. "Some of us are from rural hellholes not much different from this."

Ben grinned at the taller soldier. "Ah, you know I respect your humble beginnings, but it says something that you didn't go into the cattle business."

"If you weren't my friend you'd be eating sand right now," Jones said.

"Not my fault you got poor choice in friends."

Ted began moving away from the quarrel, heading over to Jesse. They looked like a pair of skinny twins standing next to each other, though Jesse stood a few inches shorter.

"Are they at it again?" Jesse asked, glancing over at Ben and Jones.

"Yep," Ted sighed, looking around at the small base erected from tents and camouflage netting. Members of the local army lounged around with nothing to do.

Two enlisted men passed near the two. The taller of the two stopped and stared at them. Ted could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"Aw, crap," Jesse groaned as he started in their direction. "Don't do it, just walk away."

The soldier continued towards them, his cocky expression made it clear he wanted trouble. His friend noticed his absence and turned to see where he went. A second passed then he ran to catch up with his pal.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Ted asked as they stopped in front of him.

"We were just wondering something," the cocky one said. "Why does HQ think twigs like you are going to do a better job than us at storming that cave?"

"I wouldn't know anything about how they think, you know officers," Ted shrugged and forced a chuckle. "We're just doing our jobs."

"Apparently, you know more than us, string bean," Cocky said. His pal nodded.

Ted sighed, his lighthearted attitude evaporating. Jesse took over trying to negotiate. "Look, buddy, we don't want any trouble. I know us being here offends your machoness, but picking a fight won't help your self-esteem."

"I don't know about that," Cocky said.

He drew his arm back and swung at Ted. The special operative moved faster, grabbing Cocky's wrist. Thin fingers squeezed Cocky's arm like a vice. Ted lashed out with his foot and knocked his opponent's legs out from under him. The enlisted man hit the sand with a grunt.

Ted stepped back and Jesse chuckled. "Best two out of three?"

Cocky's friend helped him back to his feet and the two scrambled away, but not before spitting off one more remark. "Freaks!"

Ted frowned and Jesse's chuckling ceased.

"Sore losers!" Jesse shouted, though a little too late for it to reach the duo.

"Hey, guys," Jones stepped over to them. They both jumped, afraid they'd been caught causing trouble. "The Captain's holding a briefing over by the transport."

"We'll be right over," Jesse said.

Jones shrugged and headed back toward the craft. Ted and Jesse let him get a few feet ahead before following.

"You should've broken his wrist," Jesse whispered.

"I should've broken his wrist," Ted agreed.

The unit assembled on the ramp of their transport, sitting down while Lila and Ralph stood in front of them. Ted and Jesse took spots near the back.

"Okay, a quick refresher while we're here," Lila began. "Members of the Sequatos Church are holed up in that cave over there. The church is one of those xeno-worshipping cults and already responsible for infesting one colony. Word is they got their hands on some more eggs. Fortunately, the local military pinned them down in this cave, but they're dug in pretty well and they have hostages."

"Have any of the hostages been harmed?" Ted asked.

"Not yet, though we only have the Sequatos' word on that," Ralph replied with a frown.

"There are sentry guns set up inside the cave," Lila continued. "Explosives have been considered to destroy them, but that might set off a cave-in."

"Well, that's that," Ben said. "Are we going home?"

"Hardly," Lila replied. He raised her arm, displaying the sheet of paper in her hand. "I've got a map of the cave system here and there's another way in, but it's a small crack and a crawl down through complete darkness, part of the tunnel might be submerged."

"Oh, great," Jesse muttered under his breath.

"Ralph, Jesse, and Ted are going to try the back way," Lila said. "If they get through, they'll appraise the situation."

"Hey, maybe if you guys let them see your game faces they'll be too busy worshipping to notice you freeing the hostages?" Ben asked with a grin.

"Shut up, Ben," Ralph growled.

Ben frowned and turned to Jones, who shook his head disapprovingly.

"Remember we need some of these cultists alive," Lila said. "We have to find out just where they're getting all these eggs from. Someone's giving away the government's eggs without permission; it's our job to find out whom."