CARTER J. BURKE

Working for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation for almost ten years, Carter Burke found himself soaring through the corporate ranks. He recently joined a special division of the Company called the Bio-Weapons Division. While working with them, a life boat was recovered that was found drifting through the Core Systems. The shuttle along with one crew member were missing for over 50 years. The Company had decided to send Burke to investigate and ask her a couple of questions. When he arrived there, he found out her name and radioed the
Company. He was ordered to visit her and when done, to get the flight recorder for analysis. To make a good impression, you gotta butter them up thought Burke, so he asked for her cat and went into the patients room. The woman's name was Ellen Ripley and the nurse was just done tending her, Ripley looked at his present and he presented it to her. When she was done getting re-acquainted with her pet, he introduced himself. The woman heard too much and passed out, Burke was quite surprised at this turn of events. And he didn't know what to do next, he called the nurse and told her what happened and then left. He got to the hangar deck where the lifeboat was and took the flight recorder for business purposes. He brought the flight recorder back with him to the Company labs and had the flight recorder analyzed.
He discovered that they were woken up from hypersleep to investigate a transmission from LV-426. Upon investigation of the planet, a creature of unknown origin had attacked and paralyzed one of the crew memebers. This series of events lead to the almost every crew member and the destruction of the Nostromo. Burke thought to himself, this is great stuff!! I gotta let the boys know in the weapons division about this!!! When done, he had the flight recorder rigged so that it made it look like the recorder malfunctioned and her story would be nothing but a hypersleep dream. The following morning, he took the flight recorder to his boss Van
Leuwen and asked him that he needed the information regarding Ripley's daughter. Van Leuwen also discussed the flight recorder and her deposition was nothing but a crock. When Burke was done meeting Van Leuwen, he went looking for Ripley and found her in one of the hollo suites. Burke left Ripley to mourn her daughters passing, after awhile, the both of them went in front of the Board of Inquiry. The trial started and it was quite boring, they were grilling the woman
on the events of the contact of the space vessel the Nostromo found, about the life form, and what happened to the crew members. They kept asking her the same questions, but they were re-worded and she was getting quite upset. Soon, Van Leuwen spoke and told Ripley that her license had been revoked and she would undergo psychiatric therapy. He looked at her, no expression, no tears, nothing. Somehow, he felt responsible, but he figured that these idiots would have done the same thing, money is money, business is business. He approached Ripley with the best smile he could offer...
Weeks passed, and Burke got the word that the Company had lost contact with the colony. Burke and the rest of the people in the bio-weapons division found their chance. Get a team of Colonial Marines, the misfits, no great heroes. Burke looked over the roster and found Lt. Gorman, "perfect" he thought, not enough experience but what the hell! When it gets down to it, it'll be easier for me to have me way. He got on the viso-phone and spoke to Gorman, and told him of the situation, Gorman agreed to meet with him and devise a strategy. In the meantime, he wanted Ripley to go with them, so he spoke to Van Leuwen, and convinced him to re-instate her, only if she goes, because she has had previous experience.
  • "Hi Ripley, this is Lt. Gorman of the Colonial Marine Corps ... Ripley, we have to talk, we've lost contact with the colony on LV-426." --Burke
  • "I don't believe this!! You guys throw me to the wolves and you want me to go back out there?! Forget it, it's not my problem." --Ripley
Burke then broke down into his molded 'company-man' attitude. Nothing serious, just a down transmitted. And hell, these marines are tough hombres ... nothing they can't handle.
Of course it would be nice to have Ripley there just in case. Although unable to convince her, even with the offer of becoming reinstated as a flight officer, he won't give up. Burke took out his business card and placed it on Ripley's counter top. Later that night, Burke gets a late night call, thinks to himself, "now what..." Blinking, and trying to look halfway presentable, he answers the phone...
  • "Hello, oh, Ripley, you ok?" --Burke
  • "Just tell me one thing Burke, you're going out there to destroy them, right? Not to study, not to bring back, but to wipe them out." --Ripley
  • "That's the plan, you have my word on it."
  • "Alright, I'm in."
With that, he returns back to his sleep. Later Burke meets with Ripley with the contingent of Colonial Marines. They are not briefed and are hurried into hypersleep for the two week journey to LV-426. A long, cold sleep...
When Burke woke up, he and the rest of the marines got dressed and ate breakfast. He sat with Gorman, Ripley, and soon Bishop came back over after doing a knife trick with Hudson. As Bishop sat down he noticed something on Bishop's thumb, a cut... which quickly lead to an argument over an android being on board. After breakfast, the marines and Ripley and Burke met with them in the hangar deck. Burke listened to Ripley while she gave her speech about the xenormorphs and the marines didn't seem to believe her, "good" thought Burke, this is gonna be easy. After that, Gorman gave orders to prep for take off to the planet and within a matter of hours, the marines were all ready.
Burke took his seat next to Ripley and hung on for the ride down to the planet. Hudson tired to make everyone pumped up by telling about the weapons they had, Burke thought it was funny, but Ripley didn't. When they finally approached the complex, Burke and Ripley looked at Gorman's view screens... When the dropship landed, the APC rumbled out of the hold and proceeded to the complex. The marines were released and both Burke and Ripley watched with anticipation. As the marines got into the complex, Ripley looked worried, there were signs of a struggle and strange holes, Hicks noted one...

Hudson noted the same burn mark had penetrated to the level where he was at, Burke was fascinated, the acid had looked like it had eaten down to somewhere like five levels!!! Gorman told them that the area had been secure and that they were coming in. As they proceeded inside, Burke looked around and noticed Ripley and Hicks standing inside of a specimen chamber. Burke walked in and became wide eyed, "this is fascinating!!" he thought to himself. He got close to one of the stasis tubes to get a better look... "Careful Burke!" --Ripley. Burke looking back and was like "what?" the thing leaped at him in the stasis tube, Burke reeled back in terror..

Bishop then told the story about how they were gathered and that two of them were still alive, Burke thought to himself "Yes! This is perfect, two live specimens, this will make me rich beyond my wildest dreams!!" Soon enough the rest of the colonists were located on the computer. The the marines were off and went into the complex. As the marines proceeded, the marines came across that looked like it was a strange addition to the inside of the machinery. As they moved in closer, one of them said it looked like secreted resin. Busy little creatures...

Into the APC on one of the view screens, Burke saw the medic investigate one of the colonists bodies, the colonist opened her eyes and pleaded with them to kill her. Ripley started to get upset at this, holding her chest, Burke watched in anticipation. As the marines struggled with the woman, she gone into convulsions and something erupted from her chest. Burke was fascinated with it, but the others had gotten scared. The marines killed the creature and soon, hell broke out. The other full grown creatures were attacking the marines, and Ripley was not going to let them get slaughtered. She got to the front of the APC and drove it to the marines to get them out of there. Burke tells Gorman that he had his chance and let Ripley handle it.

She drove the APC into a wall of resin and metal, and watched as the remaining four marines made their way back to the APC. Ripley told Burke to open the hatch and help them in, Burke ran to the rear of the APC and helped Hicks bring Hudson inside. Flames came into the APC almost burning up Burke. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and started to put out the flames. He watched the marine Hicks close the door and one of the creatures opened the door. He asked for help and Vasquez and Hudson tried to help him. Hicks grabbed his shotgun and blew away the creature and told Ripley to get going. The APC rumbled along the corridors and some supplies fell onto Gorman, knocking him out. The APC finally made it outside, Burke grabbed a med kit and went over to help Hudson, he pushed Burke away and Burke knew what that meant so he kept his distance. The marines and Ripley were deciding on what do to next, Ripley came up with an idea that Burke didn't quite like, and that was to nuke the site....
He watched the marine Hicks close the door and one of the creatures opened the door. He asked for help and Vasquez and Hudson tried to help him. Hicks grabbed his shotgun and blew away the creature and told Ripley to get going. The APC rumbled along the corridors and some supplies fell onto Gorman, knocking him out. The APC finally made it outside, Burke grabbed a med kit and went over to help Hudson, he pushed Burke away and Burke knew what that meant so he kept his distance. The marines and Ripley were deciding on what do to next, Ripley came up with an idea that Burke didn't quite like, and that was to nuke the site....

  • "Hold on, hold on one second. This installation has a substantial dollar amount to it." --Burke
  • "They can bill me!!" --Ripley
  • "Ok, look, this is an emotional moment for all of us, ok, I know that, but let's not make snap judgements, please. This is clearly a very important species were dealing with and I don't think that you or I or anybody has a right to arbitrarily exterminate them." --Burke
  • "Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up with current events but we just got our ASSES kicked pal!" --Hudson
  • "Look, I'm not blind to what's going on, but I'm not authorized that kind of action, I'm sorry." --Burke

Ripley proceeds to tell Burke that this mission is under the military jurisdiction and that Hicks is next in command. Burke had no defense except...

  • "Yeah, look, Ripley, this is a multimillion dollar installation ok, he cannot make that kind of decision, he's just a grunt, uhh, no offense." --Burke
  • "None taken." --Hicks

Hicks radios the dropship pilots and they decide to nuke the site, Burke was out of suggestions and was getting quite upset with these people. As the dropship approached, it had crashed and the survivors took cover. Burke looked around and couldn't believe this.

  • "That's it man, game over man, game over!! What are we gonna do?! What are we gonna do?!" --Hudson
  • "Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, why don't we try that?!" --Burke
When he saw Ripley going underneath the bed, looks like she was sleeping with that brat, he waited a few moments and made his move. Sneaking back into medlabs. He took the two stasis tubes with the live facehuggers and spilled them onto the floor, locking the door and putting the pulse rifle into the other room. Thinking to himself, "that's how I was gonna do it you stupid bitch!". Going back into operations, Burke turned off the monitor where he saw Ripley scared, trying to get Hicks's attention. Soon, the alarms went off and Hicks and Gorman noted that it was a fire. Burke hoped that the facehuggers did the job and that the fire could be something else.
A few minuets later, a very angry mob of people converged onto Burke, and he knew what it was. Fed up, Hudson threw him into a chair and put his pulse rifle up to Burke's face...
  • "I say we grease this rat-fuck son of a bitch right now!!" --Hudson
  • "Just doesn't make any goddamn sense!" --Hicks
  • "He figured that he couldn't get an alien back through quarantine, if one of us, was impregnated, whatever you call it, and then frozen for the trip home. Nobody would know about the embryos we would be carrying, me and Newt." --Ripley
  • "Wait a minuet now, we don't know..." --Hicks
  • "Yes, the only way he would be able to do it is if he sabotaged certain freezers on the way home, namely yours, then he could jettison the bodies and make up any story he liked." --Ripley
  • "FUCK!! He's dead, you're dog meat pal!" --Hudson
  • "This is so, nuts!! I mean, listen to what you're saying! It's paranoid delusions, how, it's really sad! It's pathetic!" --Burke
  • "You know Burke, I don't know which species is worse, you don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage!" --Ripley
  • "Alright, we waste 'em, no offense!!" --Hicks
  • "No! He's gotta go back!" --Ripley
Just then the power was cut, the marines looked around stunned, Hicks ordered Hudson and Vasquez to patrol the corridors with trackers, Ripley told Gorman to watch Burke, Gorman grabbed Burke and held him by his vest. He wasn't going anywhere, they wanted to kill him for what he was, a Company man with orders. Vasquez went to work on the door. As they welded it shut, Gorman dragged Burke back to where he would be safe, for now. Burke was sweating, shaking, and what could happen if they got out of there alive. The aliens had arrived in droves, Gorman let him go and started firing. Burke saw his chance, he darted out and started to flee towards med labs. Ripley was in hot pursuit, she chased him towards the door but he was faster. He locked the door and went into medlabs. He locked the door and started to back out towards the exit when suddenly an alien appeared behind him. He stared in horror as the alien attacked him. He felt a stinging sensation and blacked out. When he awoke, he felt tired and his face seemed sticky. He looked around and noticed that he was in the hive, and the other colonists were around him, dead. He felt something move inside of him, he got scared, as the explosions rang round him. He thought "Oh God! I got one inside of me!! This wasn't supposed to happen!! NO!!" Just then, he looked up and saw a familiar shape, it was Ripley with the girl. He called out to her.... she then came over and handed him grenade out of pity. Burke died in the explosion, the man with the mission to bring back an alien creature had gotten too greedy and didn't care about other peoples lives. And as a result, paid for it with his life instead.

Written by RAY FINCHAM.