Set in the year 2159, 37 years after the destruction of the Nostromo , the crew of the mining vessel is orbiting the planet LV-178 . Led by Chief Engineer Chris "Hoop" Hooper , the miners discover a rare, incredibly hard mineral called trimonite deep within the planet's caverns. However, alongside the mineral, they unearth a hibernating nest of Xenomorphs . The Nightmare Begins
In , written by Tim Lebbon , the story bridges the gap between the first two films, Alien and Aliens . The Discovery on LV-178
Trapped between the Xenomorphs on the ship and the inevitable crash, the survivors must descend back to the infested mines of LV-178 to retrieve a needed to power the Narcissus for a final escape.
: Most of the crew is whittled down by the aliens during the mission. A scientist named Sneddon sacrifices herself to kill a Xenomorph just as a chestburster emerges.
: Ash attempts to sabotage their escape, but Hoop manages to purge the AI with a computer virus.
During the chaos, the Marion picks up a distress signal from the Narcissus , the escape shuttle carrying . Ripley is brought aboard, but her arrival is complicated by the fact that she has unknowingly been kept in stasis for decades by Ash , the malevolent synthetic from the Nostromo whose AI consciousness survived and uploaded itself into her shuttle's systems. Desperate Escape
: To preserve the timeline of the films, Ripley's memories of these horrific events are wiped by the ship's medical pod.
The story is available in various formats, including a highly-rated featuring a full cast on Audible . Alien: Out of the Shadows - Goodreads