Alien: Uncivil War is a novel written by Brendan Deneen and published by Titan Books. It was released on July 30, 2024 with cover art provided by Marco Turini.
As well as standard print editions, the novel was released in audiobook format narrated by Austin Rising and was published by Blackstone Audio on July 30, 2024.
Publisher's summary[]
After narrowly escaping a Xenomorph attack and crash landing on the wrong planet, former military man Chris Temple just wants a peaceful life with his daughters. He just needs to deal with the brewing civil war and a Xenomorph on the loose.
War will always find a man like you.
This ALIEN story begins where most end: with a xenomorph loose on a damaged spaceship hurtling through space. Once a highly decorated marine, Chris Temple, a recently widowed single father to two young daughters, Jane, 11, and Emma, 8, is onboard. Despite his particular set of skills, Chris doesn’t get involved in the fight with the alien, instead focusing on keeping his children safe as the ship comes in for a crash landing.
The family land safely on an idyllic outpost planet, where Chris is told that the ship has been destroyed beyond recognition and nothing could have survived the crash. That’s only the first lie. Chris and his daughters love their new life, but something doesn’t feel right. Chris is a paranoid type, but just because he’s paranoid, doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
There are nasty surprises in store as Chris investigates the web of lies and conspiracies. After leaving a ruined Earth, it seems Chris and his daughters have crash-landed on a planet on the verge of all-out civil war. Chris will have to call on the battle skills he never wanted to use again in order to protect his daughters, deal with violence-hungry marines, and battle the xenomorph that’s killing people regardless of which side of the civil war they’re on.
Plot[]
Part One: Gestation[]
In 2381, following the destruction of the United Systems Military research vessel USM Auriga, USM Colonel Chris Temple seeks refuge for his daughters Jane and Emma, as well as their Auton Alicia who acts as the family's nanny. They head for a new life on the transport ship VX-72383; however, a Xenomorph outbreak onboard forces them to evacuate. During their escape, Alicia sacrificed herself in order to bid time for the family to escape. The emergency pod crashes near Mining Colony Omega Seven Tango on planet LV-1213. The seemingly peaceful town offers Temple and his family a comfortable life reminiscent of twentieth century Earth; however, the colony hides dark secrets beneath its alluring veneer.
Upon their arrival on LV-1213, Temple meets Lexa Phelan, who manages to recover their escape pod. Phelan informs him that the transport ship VX-72383 mostly burned up in the atmosphere, and what remained shattered on impact, killing all 862 passengers. After being informed the scraps were taken to the scrapyard, Phelan offers to show him the Mining Colony's town environment. While being given a tour around the town, Temple learns that the colony is shielded by a dome that protects them from the planet's harsh, inhospitable conditions and can mimic Earth's day and night skies. Additionally, the town is modelled after late 19th and early 20th century America by the colony's founders. After they were led to their home, the Temples rest for the day.
The following morning, Temple inquires Phelan about the state of VX-72383 to ensure Alicia's possible survivability, only to meet with the same answers as before. Furthermore, Temple learns that the colony was formed 50 years ago and mainly mines for Quadromite, which is only found in very few places. The colony has just over 100 people and receives occasional supplies shipped from Earth, though these have become sporadic due to the aftermath of Auriga's destruction. However, the colony maintains stable food supplies thanks to highly successful terraforming and the efforts of their scientist, Margaret Livingston. That night, the Temples attend dinner with Phelan at Delilah's, the only restaurant in the colony. During the meal, Temple overhears one of the miners saying they shouldn't have done it, which sparks his intrigue. Returning home, Phelan expresses her romantic interest in Temple before parting ways for the day. However, Temple remains troubled by the miner's comment and decides to investigate further.
Temple sneaks out of his house and investigates the back of the stores, an area he had not seen during Phelan's tour. Outside, he hears the sounds of grating metals and hushed voices coming from a warehouse located beyond the forest. Upon checking it out, Temple is spotted by a guard named Anthony Milliken, who he proceeds to act hostile after his family was insulted. The fight is quickly broken up by Cosgrove, another miner in the area. Temple learns that Cosgrove was formerly with the USM before retiring to OST for an opportunity to start over. Cosgrove clarifies that the warehouse contains radioactive waste as well as Margaret's failed energy experiments and offers to give Temple a tour of the area. Temple contemplates Cosgrove's offer before returning back home.
Part Two: Emergence[]
Aboard the USS Weaver, Captain James Taggert, First Lieutenant Riya Ashraf, and Second Lieutenant Douglas Parsons received a garbled SOS message while on their way to a mission on behalf of the USM. The message contained multiple calls for help from VX-72383; however, a majority of the captain's SOS was redacted by another section of the ship before it was formally broadcasted. Additionally, they discovered that the transport had carried an additional science lab on board without the captain's knowledge. Ashraf tried to find out what experiments had been conducted but was unable to, as the perpetrators had blocked any attempts at accessing the information. Lacking sufficient information, Taggert prioritises their mission and leaves the SOS message as a secondary concern. The three celebrate before approaching their target's orbit and proceed to awaken the sleeping marines.
Inside the warehouse, Tommy Travers was instructed to conduct a detailed survey of the derelict ship and catalog everything the initial discovery team had missed. He is interrupted by his older twin brother, Francis Travers, who was asked to assist by Milliken and Phelan, as the progress was going slower than they had intended. The twins explore the lower section of the ship, which had not been explored before. Deep inside, they hear strange noises emanating from the lower section and arrive at a hidden laboratory. They come across a briefcase containing Ovomorph Eggs and intend to report back to their supervisors. However, Facehuggers emerge from the eggs and attach themselves to the brothers, fulfilling its biological duties.
The next day, Temple meets Phelan who he is comfortable enough to share details about his past and involvement with USM. Since childhood, Temple's mother was a respectable figure within the military and influenced him to follow his mother's footsteps and ideals. Overtime, he grown uncertain in continuing to fight for USM ever since his wife Elizabeth passed away a year prior and grown a family of his own. As Temple temporarily leaves, Phelan divulges part of her past to Emma and Jane who in turn starts to tell of their situation back on Earth prior to their trip on VX-72383. They inform her of their desire to stay at the colony though their father remains uncertain. On their way to Delilah's, Phelan informs Temple that they have not heard back from the USM but decided to offer him a job as a sheriff within the mining colony, Temple is contemplative of her offer and ask for two days before he makes his decision. Later, Temple has a conversation with his daughters who he proceed to asked on whether or not they would want to stay in the colony. Affirming their decision, Temple decides to try settling in for a few months and see how well they are adjusted to life on OST.
Elsewhere in the warehouse, Cosgrove and Milliken questions the whereabouts of the Travers twins. The former manages to recover Temple's file but discovered that it was mostly redacted, Cosgrove is apprehensive of Phelan's idea of integrating him within the community due to his largely unknown past and is afraid that his arrival would ruin everything they had built upon. Soon after, the Travers twin step out of the ship, and does not remember the moment when Facehuggers attacked. They are briefly scolded before they are excused to go back to their home with Cosgrove and Milliken confused as to what had happened to them. In the Travers residence, Tommy slowly remembered the attack but Francis dismissed it as another drunk vision from alcohol. Slowly, the twins are killed by Chestbursters.
Sometime later, Phelan enters the warehouse and is informed of the Travers twin situation by Cosgrove. The pair meets Livingston who inform Phelan that she had worked for 18 continuous hours and made a breakthrough discovery. The salvage crew had managed to recovered Alicia, who is thought to have been destroyed in the crash. Since then, Livingston had been trying to fix and activate the Auton in which she succeed. Alicia is awakened and asked by Phelan in how to hack into the USM mainframe. At night, John Wilkins, who is a farmer and had brought to the colony to cultivate farm animals from Earth, is suddenly spooked by the animal's reactions and investigate the origin. Wilkins is eventually attacked by Xenomorphs and mauled to death.
Later that night, Phelan leads Temple to the colony's headquarters, showing him the building's structure and his personal office. During the tour, Phelan behaves oddly, but before Temple can question her, she's called away to handle a nearby conflict, which he's not permitted to hear about. Left alone, Temple explores the building until he encounters Cosgrove, whom he manages to incapacitate. Phelan breaks up the fight and escorts Temple outside to further quell conflict between them. Sometime later, in his residence, Temple hears nearby voices—Phelan, Cosgrove, Fredericks, Connor, and Baker—heading toward the farm. Seeing this as his best chance to learn more, he stealthily follows them. When the group, informed by Milliken, discovers Wilkins' dead body, Cosgrove accuses Temple of the murder, citing his secrecy. However, Phelan questions Cosgrove's claim and is confident on his innocence. They decide to cover up Wilkins's death as to avoid any panic on the colony.
Meanwhile, Temple sneaks around the headquarters and enters the building, making his way to the restricted-access corridor where Cosgrove had previously confronted him. He descends underground, where he discovers miners who have been imprisoned along with the colony's original leader, Jennifer Chu. She reveals that the colony is not run by a council and that Phelan is one of Weyland-Yutani's cultists, converting miners to her side and imprisoning those who refuse to follow the cult's ideology. Chu also informs him that the transport ship was not completely destroyed; they are attempting to salvage any weapons and technology that could help them. Now knowing the truth, Temple plans to escape the colony with his girls and promises to send help to the prisoners. Terrified of a potential loosen Xenomorph, Temple races back to the house where he learns that the children at school, where Jane and Emma were attending, were reciting prayers from the cult.
The next morning, Temple meets with Phelan, who informs him about a carnival being organized in town. With his daughters eager to attend, he feels compelled to keep up the ruse and reluctantly agrees. During the carnival, Temple loses sight of Emma, who is being bullied by Milliken's child. He intervenes to stop the bullying, only to be confronted by Milliken, Cosgrove, and several other miners. Temple tries to resolve the conflict peacefully, but the others are determined otherwise. Phelan arrives, breaks up the mob, and escorts the family back to their residence. That night, Temple tells his daughters they must leave due to his recent findings. They sneak to the warehouse, where he warns them of the potential dangers they may face in leaving OST. Temple knocks out Milliken, who is stationed there, allowing them safe passage inside. They arrive at the crashed vessel and find Livingston working on Alicia, who was severely damaged in the crash. Temple threatens Livingston, forcing her to move away from Alicia, and begins interrogating her. Livingston reveals that she was tasked with hacking the USM communications system to determine if they were aware of the events on LV-1213 and discovered that the marines were on their way. Additionally, Temple learns that no living creatures survived the impact, alleviating his fear of loose Xenomorphs. He also finds out that a ship is located about half a mile outside the dome. Temple along with his daughters and Alicia set out to leave.
Part Three: Occlusion[]
Before her arrival on OST, Phelan was raised in a traditionalist household where her parents forbade any digital influence or implants that could alter their way of consuming knowledge. During her upbringing, Phelan became captivated by Weyland-Yutani's biography books, which outlined the company's founding beliefs before they were corrupted by corporate greed, immoral science, and a disregard for human life. After her parents died in a transport accident at Gateway Station, Phelan dedicated herself to the revivalist cause, attending multiple demonstrations and protests. One of these protests turned deadly due to USM officers' actions, prompting her to leave for OST—a colony originally founded on beliefs similar to those of Weyland and Yutani. However, the colony slowly became corrupted under the leadership of Chu, who prioritized profits for USM over the well-being of the miners. Chu's cruel managerial tactics, including emotional abuse and docked pay, led many miners to turn against her. Phelan then spearheaded a small rebellion that resulted in a few deaths on both sides. Ultimately, Chu and her loyalists were imprisoned beneath headquarters, and Phelan assumed leadership of the colony. In the following months, Phelan focused on creating a new hierarchical social structure while maintaining a facade of normalcy to prevent USM from suspecting any internal issues, ensuring that the ore continued to be delivered on schedule. However, Temple's arrival prompted her to ask Livingston to use Alicia to hack to USM mainframe to have contingency plans in case they suspected.
Later that night, Phelan is awakened by Cosgrove, who warns her that the marines have entered LV-1213's orbit and that traps have been set for them. They quickly rendezvous at headquarters to coordinate their response to the USM's impending arrival. Phelan, suspecting Chu to be the mastermind behind any potential resistance, sends Malone and Shepard to watch over Chu and her loyalists. She gives Cosgrove the green light to plan the attack, with the intention of eliminating the opposition forces.
Outside, Taggert's marines and commanding officers Ashraf and Parsons arrived at the planet. They prepared themselves for the conflict before venturing forward to the colony. Elsewhere in the colony, the Xenomorphs begin their hunt of human individuals within, Milliken started to regain consciousness after being knocked out by Temple but is immediately killed by a Xenomorph. Meanwhile, the Temples set to get away from the crossfire between two factions as they head for the warehouse outside of the colony. However, Alicia decided that the family should head over to Chu for assistance. Back at HQ, Phelan and Cosgrove monitored Taggert's team and their own, preparing for an ambush at their impending arrival.
Elsewhere, Parsons and Marine officer Moira Campbell prepared to cut off the colony's power, but they were suddenly attacked by mounted turrets. In the crossfire, Parsons and another Marine, Bridgeman, were killed. Despite the chaos, Campbell managed to disable the power. Shortly after, she informed her commander of Parsons' death which enraged and motivated Taggert to finish his mission. Taggert, Ashraf and six other marines infiltrated the colony before they are ambushed by the opposition. Before infiltrating the building, Temple tasks Alicia with taking care of his daughters. With her help, they gain entry into the building. Meanwhile, Phelan and Cosgrove prepare to take up arms against the USM forces but soon realize that Xenomorphs are on the loose within the colony. During the chaos, Tom Sturben, who had welcomed Temple on his first day at the colony, is killed by one of the creatures. Phelan manages to drive the Xenomorph away, but she is burned by its acidic blood in the process. Phelan motivates her people to fight for their colony before moving onto the next phase of their attack. Power is brought back to the colony with Livingston's override, with the dome sky illuminating the USM but provide cover for their own and their communications system were disabled. Outside, Taggert and Ashraf quickly moved to the colony's headquarters.
Upon inside, Alicia and the girls locked themselves in a secure room per Temple's instructions. Looking around for weapons, Temple confronts Cosgrove, Baker, Fredericks and another colonist named Janine and successfully incapacitated them in closed quarter fights. As USM marines raiding the building, Temple convinced Janine to lower her weapon and hide to safety, and expressed his desire of not killing anyone. Janine voluntarily locks four of them in a nearby office under Temple's duress. He acquires a weapon and goes back for his family. Outside, the townsfolk have the marines pinned down at Delilah's and successfully take them out. Phelan orders Connor to support the rear guard in a nearby alley, only for Connor to be abducted by another Xenomorph.
Downstairs, Temple kills two of Phelan's guards in self-defense and rescues Chu and her loyalists. As events unfold, Temple begins to realize his deepening hatred for the USM and Weyland-Yutani loyalists, who force their members to kill for their ideology. He yearns to leave the violent past behind him for good. Temple tries to convince Chu to take her people to safety and let the marines handle the situation, but she demands retribution for Phelan's rebellion and joins the battle. Temple returns to find his family, only to discover a dead colonist nearby and a message instructing him to go to the theater. Inside the building, Taggert and Ashraf are ambushed by Weyland-Yutani loyalists, with Ashraf being killed in the process. This loss fuels Taggert's determination to complete his mission. Outside, Phelan witnesses Chu and her forces armed and ready, prompting her to alert the townsfolk to their presence, she returns back to headquarters. At the theater, Temple is relieved to discover that the message was left by Alicia, who had guided his daughters to seek shelter there. Their relief is short-lived, however, as they are interrupted by a Xenomorph. Temple, puzzled by its survival, watches in horror as the creature begins to make a cocoon with a still-alive Connor. Determined to protect his family and save the victim, Temple takes aim to kill the Xenomorph with Alicia's assistance. He checks on Connor only to find that she had died from her severe injuries. Alicia offers to hack to the colony's mainframe and determines the ship's location as the power had long been restored.
Inside OST's HQ, Phelan rescues Cosgrove along with the others, and arm themselves against Chu and her forces. Meanwhile, Temple and his family hide out at the pharmacy next door, and plans to steal the USM ship to get off planet which is located 2 miles away from the colony. Meanwhile, a pure emotionally driven Taggert starts to kill off any loyalists, accidentally killing Chu in the process. Taggert is shot in the femoral artery and slowly succumbs to blood loss from his wounds. Meanwhile, Phelan intercepts Temple and his family's escape and tries to convince him to stay as venturing outside LV-1213 will be deadly. However, Phelan is head-bitten by the last Xenomorph within the colony, forcing the Temples to run for safety. On the way, Temple is severely injured by its vicious attack, until they are saved by Alicia and his daughters which gives him an opening in killing the creature.
As they leave on the USS Weaver, they looked upon the war-torn colony which is still being ravaged by three factions alike. Alicia suggests heading towards a colony that is two months away from their current position. So, the Temples book the journey, uncertain of whatever future may come for them.
Audiobook[]
Alien: Uncivil War audiobook.
Blackstone Audio will produce an unabridged audiobook of Alien: Uncivil War read by Austin Rising. The audiobook will run for 11 hours 30 minutes and will be released on July 30, 2024.
