Following Axel's lead, Ripley passed through the door, and entered yet another, just as neglected part of the station. At first she had thought that she had simply entered an unused section through bad luck after the explosion, but now it seemed like a majority of Sevastopol was like this. When she asked about the condition of the station, he explained that the whole place had been in the middle of decommissioning when all the trouble started. Something like footsteps were then heard up ahead, causing Axel to pull her out of sight just before the shadowy figures of people ran across the junction up ahead.

"Why are we hiding?" She asked once the others were gone. "Maybe they can help us."

"No way, sweetheart." Axel replied. "Everyone's running shit-scared, sticking to their own... safer that way, you know."

They continued down the corridor, with him continuing to look around nervously up at every open duct, as well as down at the floor plating at times. In the dim light, it was hard to see the directory signs that were painted on the walls as they made their way to the Freight Area, and she was moving closer to try and read the next one, when Axel grabbed her again as people approached. She had just about had enough of his paranoia at this point, and she was about to pull away from him, when she stopped as she realized that these latest people were carrying pistols.

"We can't just stay down here." One of the men said as they walked past. "What if they try to raid us again?"

"Then we shoot the crap out of them, just like last time." Another one replied. "Got it? It's that simple; shoot anyone you don't know."

It was hard for her to believe that she was hearing these things, and judging by the way those men had been gripping their weapons while nervously looking around... like Axel did... they didn't strike her as the kind of people who made jokes. Once they were gone, Axel tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned for her to follow him toward an open service duct on the nearby wall. Once inside, the circular hatch closed behind them, and it seemed that for the moment, they were safe.

"Why are they allowed to just be armed like that?" Ripley asked. "Why isn't someone doing something about all this?" 

"They are, it's called surviving." Axel explained quietly. "You can go and tell them they're wrong if you want to, sweetheart, but those guns aren't just for show, and those guys hate strangers... even nice guys like me."

She wasn't exactly shocked that other people on the station had a problem getting along with Axel, but even putting up with his paranoia and snide sarcasm was better than being alone, especially since there were apparently people who just shot anyone they encountered. So taking a route that he insisted was safer, even though a bit longer, Ripley followed him through the duct, followed by a couple small empty rooms, and yet another duct. Well, he was certainly right about this route being longer, but when she made asked if this was how everyone got around on Sevastopol, Axel gave her chills when he said only the ones who wanted to stay alive.

But were things really this bad on the whole station? And if they were, what did that mean as far as retrieving the Nostromo's flight recorder? Yes, obviously her own survival came first, but the possibility of coming all this way and finding nothing after waiting fifteen years... was just overpowering. Finally, after what felt like forever, they crawled out of the duct, and into a large room that was lit up by industrial work lights that had been positioned around the center of the room, where about a half dozen armed men and women seemed to be having some kind of meeting.

"All right, I have one simple question for you guys." One of them said as Ripley and Axel ducked down behind some boxes. "Who was supposed to check our supplies last?"

"I was." Another man replied. "Why, is something...

The second man's words were stopped as the first one drew his pistol and pulled the trigger. For a moment the whole room was illuminated with a flash of light, more than enough to see a spray of blood come from the second man's face as he was thrown backwards, and all Ripley could do was put her own hands over her mouth as her eyes went wide. Axel was right, the people on this station, or at least some of them, had gone crazy, and now she was starting to understand why he was so on edge all the time.

"What the hell, Burke?!" Another one of them exclaimed. "Why did you do that?!"

"A lesson." Burke replied, replacing the expended bullet in his weapon. "Either Davis here was a scumbag who helped himself to the supplies... or he was an idiot who failed to keep others from breaking in here and stealing from us."

"Wait, you think someone else could be down here?" One of the women asked. "You said we'd be safe down here."

The conversation started to escalate as tempers and accusations were thrown around, but the more they fought and argued amongst themselves, the less attention they were paying to their surroundings. Axel noticed this first, and again motioned for her to follow him; staying ducked down and avoiding the circles of light being cast from the work lights. It was hard to stay calm each time they had to move out into the open, but thankfully the group didn't seem to notice them as their argument continued to build up. It was yet another dark corridor that awaited them at the other end of the room, one that twisted and turned a few times before ending at a locked door.

"Go hit that switch over there, Ripley." Axel said, pointing to a nearby wall. "I'll make sure no one comes up behind us, but stay quiet, they're still close by."

Not wanting to be in this area any longer than she needed to, Ripley moved over to the wall, and pressed the emergency override button, causing a low beeping sound as the locked door slid open. Suddenly there was movement as a man came through, and there was no time to warn Axel before he was struck in the back of the head by the man's pistol, causing him to drop the maintenance jack as he fell against a control panel. He tried to move, probably to get away, but the man hit him again before pressing the barrel of his gun into Axel's head.

"Don't fucking move, asshole!" The man yelled, turning to look back the way they came. "Hey, get in here! I got the thief!"

Apparently the man was so focused on Axel that he hadn't noticed Ripley at all, probably due to the shadows around the manual override button. She needed Axel to help her find the way to comms, and had no intention of waiting around for Burke and the others to show up, so she came out of the shadows and shoved the man as hard as she could. Taken by surprise, the man was knocked off balance, but there ended her plan. She wasn't sure what to do as the man regained his footing, and started to point his pistol at her, but then Axel grabbed the maintenance jack and swung it upward.

The tool struck the man in the arm, causing his pistol to fall into the darkness of more pulled up floor plating, and then Axel struck him again, this time in the side of the head. Obviously the man was dead, judging by the blood pooling around him once he collapsed to the floor, and Ripley just stood there in shock until Axel grabbed her arm. There was the sound of footsteps approaching from back the way they came, so she had no choice but to just leave the man there as they escaped through the recently unlocked door, and Axel pushed the override button to shut and lock it once they were on the other side.

"You... you killed that guy!" Ripley exclaimed, backing up into the center of the room. "What the fuck is going on in this station?!"

"He was going to kill both of us, Ripley!" He shouted back, grabbing her shoulders. "This is about survival, damn it, it was him or us! Can you understand that?"

She understood the words that he was saying, but her mind just didn't want to accept that she was trapped in some kind of space-age version of the Wild West, where everybody had to kill each other in order to stay alive. But then her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of movement, not at the still locked door, but behind them... or maybe above? It sounded like someone was moving around in the darkness, but she couldn't see anything since this room was only partially illuminated by a light above the door on the far side, opposite the way they came in.

"Can you hear that?" Axel asked, still looking around. "What the hell is that?"

Ripley was also looking around, but then her eyes fell on Axel, or rather, something that was falling on him. There was a kind of black liquid dripping down into his arm, and he had only just touched it with his finger to investigate, when his eyes widened as something stabbed him in the back. It was like the tip of a black spear, long and sharp enough to protrude so far out his chest that the point made a small cut on the shoulder of Ripley's jumpsuit, startling her so much that she stumbled back and fell against another stack of empty crates.

Then Axel was gone; the maintenance jack falling from his hands and making a loud clang on the floor as he was pulled up into the darkness of one of the vents.