Zeta II Reticuli System

The Zeta II Reticuli System is a stellar system which exists on the Outer Rim of the Milky Way Galaxy. In the early half of the 22nd century, it was used as a trade route and colonization grid for Earth-based companies such as the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

History
At some undisclosed point in time, an extraterrestrial "Space jockey" crash-landed on a planetoid which later came to be known as Acheron. The alien pilot was carrying a cargo which consisted of a nursery containing thousands of dangerous xenomorph eggs. One of the xenomorph facehuggers had infected the pilot, using his body as a host for a xenomorph embryo. The embryo grew inside his body and ultimately manifested into a "chestburster", which killed the pilot, but prior to his death, he transmitted an S.O.S. beacon, warning others of the dangerous specimens on his ship. The beacon circulated throughout the Zeta II Reticuli system for countless centuries.

In the year 2122, the commercial towing vehicle USCSS Nostromo was returning from a job in the Solomons when it intercepted the ancient beacon. Per its programming, the computer awakened the crew of the Nostromo from hypersleep and provided them with instructions to investigate the beacon. The crew were unable to translate the ancient alien code, but they did manage to track its origin point to Acheron. Exploring the surface of the small world, they came upon the ruins of the space jockey's derelict ship and inadvertenly exposed themselves to a facehugger, which was then taken back on board. The alien quickly grew into an adult xenomorph and slaughtered all but one member of the crew - Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley. In order to destroy the xenomorph, Ripley was forced to set the auto-destruct sequence on the Nostromo. She escaped inside a life boat and put herself (as well as her cat Jones) into hypersleep. Ripley's shuttle floated throughout the Zeta II Reticuli system for more than fifty-seven years before being recovered by a deep space salvage team.

Points of Interest

 * Acheron / LV-426
 * The Solomons

Films that take place in

 * Alien (1979)
 * Aliens (1986)
 * Alien 3 (1992)

Characters from

 * Space Jockey (possibly)