The mission was simple: Go to planet LV-426, re-establish contact with the colonists, find any hostile xenomorphic life-forms on the planet and destroy them. Entry to the colony complex itself was done in the M577 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), with a team of ten Colonial Marines, two civilians and one artificial person - but only consultant Ellen Ripley had ever encountered a xenomorph before. When the Marines came under attack in a xenomorph hive, Ripley seized control of the APC and drove it directly into the hive itself to rescue the survivors.