I have just finished the novel, Aliens Phalanx, by Scott Sigler. It’s a fantastic read that I would highly recommend. This article will contain spoilers and as such I only recommend reading after you have finished the novel.
Aliens Phalanx takes place on the planet of Ataegina. This is an earth-like world with a breathable atmosphere, volcanic activity, drinkable water, three moons, and a hive of deadly Xenomorphs. What makes the story of Phalanx so interesting and unique within the Alien series is just how isolated and removed from wider human culture, society, and of course technology the people of Ataegina are. Because of how isolated Ataegina is it’s almost impossible to tell what year Aliens Phalanx is set. Our best two sources of information on this subject are the book itself and the website, AlienTimeline.wordpress.com. I think it would be best if we went over the history of Ataegina itself before trying to fit it into the wider universe.
We learn that the first humans originated from the Wayland-Yutani colony ship, the Nan-Shan. Before the Nan-Shan was able to properly land the on-board android, Zachariah, was reprogramed to release a Xenomorph-XX121 egg. The crew were completely wiped out by the Xenomorph shortly after they managed to reset Zachariah. The Nan-Shan then crash-landed within a mountain that would later come to be known as ‘Black-Smoke Mountain’. Zachariah attempted to wake up the colonists within the Hypersleep chambers. To his dismay only one hundred and nineteen children survived the landing. Zachariah gives them what supplies he can and warns them about the dangers of the Xenomorphs. These warnings would go on to become the foundation for the mythology and religions of Ataegina. Over the next one hundred and seventy years the population begins to increase. During the one hundred and seventy fourth year King Paul rose to power and built several castles and fortresses. The second hundred and fifty second year saw the re-emergence of the Xenomorphs from Blacksmoke Mountain. The surface is lost to the Xenomorphs, and human societies retreat into hidden underground bunkers known as holds. Over the next seventy years the human population drops drastically as more and more people are killed or captured by the Xenomorphs. The novel then begins in the year 319.
Problems begin to emerge when you try and understand where this story sits on the wider timeline. It’s hard to place Aliens Phalanx on the timeline with any real accuracy. The fandom currently places the start of the story at the year 2514 based on information from the Alien Timeline website which itself used Scott Sigler’s background notes for the novel. This means that the Nan-Shan crashed on Ataegina in 2195. I don’t think this lines up that well. The problem is that I don’t see any reason why Wayland-Yutani would allow a specimen of the Xenomorph to go without attempting to retrieve it. We see Way-Yu send out Michael Bishop, one of the highest executives within all of Way-Yu to retrieve the Xenomorph sample alive within Ellen Ripley on Fiorina 161 during Alien 3. The entire series is filled with examples of Wayland-Yutani going to drastic lengths to obtain a Xenomorph specimen. The closet story within the Alien timeline to 2195 is the Aliens Dark Descent video game, which is set in 2198, three years after the Nan-Shan crash. During the plot of Dark Descent, Wayland-Yutani is desperate to get their corporate hands on samples of Xenomorph XX121. We see this with both the Wayland-Yutani planetary-director Barbra Pryce, and Dr Donald Becker. Director Pryce allows the planet of Lethe to be overrun rather than harming the Xenomorphs, to the point that she even sacrifices her own teams. Dr Donald Becker then allows a Xenomorph loose onboard the USS Otago to try and secure a sample. Why would a corporation that is willing to throw away countless lives, sacrifice entire planets and trillions of dollars to obtain just a single Xenomorph not send out a retrieval team to Ataegina?
I see two points in the timeline that Wayland-Yutani would be too preoccupied to send out a retrieval team. The first would be the Frontier War between 2184 and 2187. The second would be the time between 2352 and around the early 25th century when Megacorporations were outlawed by the United Systems.
The Frontier War seems to be the most obvious time for Wayland-Yutani to lose track of the Nan-Shan. The final year of the war, 2187, is only eight years out of the date suggested by the Alien Timeline website. The Frontier War saw several colonies bombarded with the Engineer’s pathogen and completely wiped out. The terrorist organisation Deep Void were attacking various colonies within Government systems and then framing another government. So, Deep Void would attack a United Americas colony and frame the United Progressive Peoples for the attack. Then they would attack an UPP colony and frame the UA for it. The aim was to start an all-out war between the UPP and UA. This would increase profits for Way-Yu who would be selling weapons and munitions to both sides. The war was avoided, and Deep Void was destroyed but not before several colonies were destroyed. Wayland-Yutani could have counted the lost Ataegina colony ship as one of those lost to the bioweapon by mistake. Maybe the saboteur that released the Xenomorph on the Nan-Shan was even doing so on behalf of Deep void.
Because of this I believe a more sensible placement for the Nan-Shan crash would be 2186. This would put the beginning of Aliens Phalanx at 2505. Nine years earlier than its current place within the timeline.
All credit for the Alien Timeline website goes to Scott Middlebrook. If you read this, then thank you! Your website is amazing and has been a fascinating read. Credit for Aliens Phalanx itself goes to Scott Sigler. A lot of Scotts. I guess since I’m thanking Scotts I’ll thank Ridley Scott for making the first Alien film in 1979 and starting this entire series.
