USS SULACO
The USS Sulaco, registration 513792/CTA, was a Conestoga-class troop transport ship in service with the United States Colonial Marine Corps, assigned to 2nd Battalion Bravo Team. It was most notably used in the investigation of the Hadley's Hope colony on Acheron (LV-426) in 2179, when it was manned by Lieutenant Scott Gorman's combat unit of Colonial Marines.
The Sulaco was considered an unlucky ship — it was the thirteenth Conestoga-class vessel to be constructed and had something of an infamous reputation in the USCM.
Early history
Commissioned in 2169, the USS Sulaco was involved in 2171 in a major operation on the planet Linna 349, where it was struck by two ASAT missiles — the only fleet vessel to be damaged while in orbit. Despite attempting to misdirect the incoming warheads with decoy ballutes, two of the six missiles struck the Sulaco's cargo hangars, detonating fuel and stores. The fire was only controlled by opening the hangar doors and venting the atmosphere to space and jettisoning the cargo. This incident gave the vessel something of an unlucky reputation within the United States Colonial Marine Corps (USCM), a reputation that was reinforced when the ship was involved in a docking accident at Gateway Station in 2176[5] that caused the loss of five crew members. It was even suggested that the Sulaco's reputation led to some crews simply refusing to use the ship.Mission to LV-426
In 2179, the Sulaco was dispatched to Acheron (LV-426) under the command of Lieutenant Scott Gorman following the loss of contact with the colony of Hadley's Hope. Upon reaching the moon, the small contingent of Colonial Marines and advisors from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation deployed to the surface aboard the dropship Bug Stomper, leaving the Sulaco in orbit on automatic pilot. Following the discovery of a Xenomorph infestation at Hadley's Hope and a disastrous ambush that decimated the Marines on the surface, the Sulaco's backup dropship, Smart Ass, was readied, fueled and brought down to the surface via remote control by Executive Officer Bishop, allowing the few remaining survivors to be evacuated. Upon returning to the Sulaco, the survivors - Bishop, Ellen Ripley, Corporal Dwayne Hicks, and Rebecca "Newt" Jorden - discovered that the Xenomorph Queen from Hadley's Hope had stowed away aboard Smart Ass. Ripley engaged the Queen in the Sulaco's hangar bay with a Power Loader used to load ordnance onto the dropships, eventually ejecting the Queen into space through an airlock. Hicks sent a distress call back to the USCM before the remaining personnel entered hypersleep.Journey to Fiorina 161
On the return journey to Earth, a Facehugger from an Ovomorph left by the Queen made its way to the survivors and cracked a cryotube, spilling the Facehugger's blood and causing an electrical fire in the ship's hypersleep chamber. Due to the fire, the occupied cryotubes were jettisoned in a Type 337 EEV which subsequently crash-landed on Fiorina "Fury" 161, killing both Newt and Hicks, damaging Bishop further and leaving Ripley as the sole survivor.Additional & auxiliary systems
TITAN (1200) A.I. Mainframe
TITAN (600) System Backup
TITAN (600) System Backup
"It was an ugly ship. Battered, overused, parts repaired that should have been replaced, too tough and valuable to scrap. Easier for its masters to upgrade it and modify it than to build a new one. Its lines were awkward and its engines oversize. A mountain of metal and composites and ceramic, a floating scrap heap, weightless monument to war, it shouldered its way brutally through the mysterious region called hyperspace. Like its human cargo, it was purely functional. Its name was Sulaco."
Class
Designation
Light Assault Starship (Refitted 2174 AD)
Manufacturer
Creation Date
2169
Destruction Date
2196
Owning Organization
Related Myths
Length
385 meters
Weight
78,000 tonnes
Comments