USCM Incident 081007-A

Flashback to two years ago.

It was a quiet night on patrol.

A fellow Marine and I were keeping watch on the lower level of the U-37 facility on Elgin. All of a sudden there was a noise that appeared to come from the sub-basement. Thinking it was probably nothing more than giant subterrats coming up from the mines, I didn't even bother picking up my trusty M41-A from the table.

I soon realize what a mistake that was.

The soft blue glow of the LF (life/motion) scanner was getting brighter as I walked down the steps to the storage section in sub-level 01. These LFS's are set up all around the facility to allow for a smaller security force to monitor the entire compound from a central location. Unfortunately, something had apparently eluded detection.

Almost without warning this facehugger leaped out from the shadows.

Instinctually I reached for my VP-70, shifted completely to the left and away from the stairs, and targeted it.



Unfortunately, in my haste I tripped over a couple cases of Aspen beer and ended up flat on the floor just in front of this eight-legged monster.



At close range I quickly and repeatedly squeezed the trigger... but nothing happened! Still in a slight daze after having tripped, I had completely forgotten to disengage the safety.



By then it was too late. The facehugger attacked, I dropped my sidearm, and I was soon gasping for air.



I made one last attempt to remove the creature, reached for my VP-70, but the lack of oxygen to my brain caused me to temporarily black out.

Luckily my back-up arrived and was able to rush me to the MedLab for an emergency extraction. Thankfully these procedures have been well documented by Weyland-Yutani, and it eventually just came off -- just like the Company said.

I'm okay now -- especially after my buddy and I polished off all three cases of Aspen. Sometimes I will get a little bit of of stomach ache from time to time, but I've been reassured by the Company that it's simply a reaction I have to the beer.

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Rick "Ripstick"
A03/TQ3.0.12142E1

Don't worry Rick...

We'll give you something for that heartburn you're experiencing.

Geat pics! Love the laser effect!

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Great pic.

We will name the little guy after you.

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Cpl. " Radar " West - A08/TQ0.0.72128E1
The sleeper has awaken...
Long live the fighters..

Great work dude.

Awesome photography, haha!

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CPL Sean Maio A01/TQ2.0.72156E1
Public Relations Division (Temporary Cross-Assignment)
M-56 Smartgun Operator, A/3Btn, II CMEF, USS Sephora

That looks awesome, Ripstick!
What kind of laser is that?

Collin "Ripper714"

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Cool story Rick.
Eat some cornbread... it's good for you. It will make your tummy feel all better.

Mike

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There is nothing more impressive than a bloody big Alien wiggling on the end of a sharp stick!

Haha!

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CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

No response from Ripstick yet ......hope he's ok.
Heartburn can be bad......he just needs the healing purple pill

Didn't WY invent that?

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That was great bro!!

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USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

I LOLed. awesome.

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I'm okay, now. Like I said... it did eventually come off on its own the next day.



I'm glad you guys enjoyed the photos. It was a blast taking them.

Kevin had mentioned something recently about the facehugger in my avatar... the one that is always following me around and getting me into trouble. That made me remember doing this unplanned photoshoot with a friend of mine who happened to bring to the shop one day his fog machine and an argon laser unit with spinning mirror. The fog machine was just one of your run-of-the-mill Halloween types, but the laser unit was something else entirely -- government or military surplus if I recall.

The laser unit consisted of three individual pieces; the laser module itself (about the size of a regular automotive battery), the power converter (also about the size of an automotive battery), and a separate module containing the spinning mirror to spread the laser beam out in a flat line across the floor. Even though he had it adjusted so that the beam was basically harmless light, it was fully capable of burning through things.


Why do I suddenly sense a grand opportunity for doing a commercial spoof here? That would be an awesome DragonCon TV entry!

Hmmm... Tony?

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Rick "Ripstick"
A03/TQ3.0.12142E1

You know...

Looking at the thrid pic (of you laid out on the floor)...

That laser effect looks like a dead ringer for the Deep Salvage Team scanning device; used to scan the Narcissus at the beginning of Aliens!

Glad to hear you're feeling better Bro. What are you going to do with the hugger carcass? It is dead right?

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Find a guy to balance it on his chin....remember Dcon 06, Tony?

Mike

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There is nothing more impressive than a bloody big Alien wiggling on the end of a sharp stick!

Exactly! That's what gave me the idea to do this. Unfortunately, the actual smoke swirling effect is difficult to capture as a still image. If you were there in person, it swirled exactly like the one in the scene with the Deep Salvage Team.

In fact, on a different day we played around with the laser and smoke machine again and I managed to stage this photo which shows the smoke swirls much better.




Thanks Kev! Actually, the local lab guys took the carcass, er... specimen for further analysis. I mean, afterall... it was dead. I'm pretty sure it was. Well... it looked dead.



That's right... Tony shot some video of that. The first time I saw it I swore the guy was a sword swallower and was going to swallow the facehugger's tail. I mean... we were at DragonCon.

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Rick "Ripstick"
A03/TQ3.0.12142E1

Fun Stuff! Thanks for sharing Rick!

PM me Rick.....somehow I'm involved with DCTV this year and we need a USCM skit that doesn't involve footage from the movie (against the rules )
I know people in high places......

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Cool effect Bro! Looks fantastic!

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!