Drake (Space Marine)

"Stay frosty, Marines... And LET IT ROCK!"

―Drake (from Drake's Aliens Bio-Data)

Drake
Biographical Information
Place of birth	Detention Planet 27, Requist System
Rank	Sergeant
Affiliation	Space Marines
Status	Alive
Physical Description
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	White
Eye color	Blue
Other Information
Notable facts	Born in prison and fought his way out to join the Space Marines. Never defeated in hand to hand combat. Survived numerous face to face Alien encounters. Killed multiple Alien Queens.

Sergeant Drake was a member of the Space Marines, part of a special Xenomorph emergency response unit. He was a member of the combat unit aboard the Starship Narcissus, who responded to a distress call from Acheron.

He was one of the few survivors of the disastrous incident and was appointed Commanding Officer of a quick-response team for Xenomorph threats. He later did a tour across three planets and a moon to stop a Xenomorph invasion that could have reached Earth. Drake was considered to be an expert smart-gunner, one of the best in the Corps.

Biography

Early Life

"I didn't fight my way out of the toughest prison in the galaxy just to buy the farm here!"

―Drake to Ripley (from Aliens: Stampede)

Drake was born in captivity on Detention Planet 27 in the Requist System. As he grew up, he fought his way out of the prison and joined the Space Marines at age 21.

Acheron

"Don't get cocky, Drake, you know these bugs can crash your disk in a nanosecond!"

―Hicks to Drake (from Aliens: Jungle Attack)

Sometime prior to the events on Tanaka 5, Drake and the other Space Marines were stationed on the Starship Narcissus, where they answered a distress signal from the nearby planet Acheron. On the surface, they faced off against an Alien infestation on the planet.

The events on Acheron were disastrous, with several Space Marines killed in action, four days later only a handful remained, Drake was one of the few survivors.

The Starship Narcissus

The Narcissus Infestation

"Say good-night!"

―Drake, shooting a Three-headed Alien (from the Operation: Aliens Combat Game)

The few survivors, Drake, Lieutenant Ripley, Sergeant Apone, Corporal Hicks, and the android Bishop, made it back to the Narcissus where they believed themselves to be safe. However, the Alien Queen and her brood of Three-headed Aliens had also gotten aboard the ship.

Millions of miles away from Acheron, the true nightmare was just about to begin for the five Marines. After discovering the Alien infestation on board the ship with them, the Marines plotted to blow up the ship and escape via the escape capsule. The Marines moved through the ship, activating the three coded panels before beginning the self-destruct countdown at the ship's main computer. The Marines then fought their way to the escape capsule, defeating the Xenomorph Queen in the process and then fleeing to salvation.

Aftermath

Drake was subsequently made part of Ripley's rapid-response team for combatting Xenomorph threats, bolstered by his fellow survivors, and would go on to fight several battles against the Aliens.

Nekko 6

"Hey Sarge — remember that move we pulled on Nekko 6?"
"How could I forget? I nearly lost it in that one!"

―Drake and Apone (from Aliens: Meltdown)

At an unknown time, Drake and Apone were sent on a mission to the planet Nekko 6, presumably to combat Xenomorphs. During the mission, the two Sergeants utilized a tactic where they shot the platform a hostile was standing on, causing the hostile to fall. Apone apparently almost lost his temper during the mission.

Tanaka 5

"Bishop, see if you can raise Drake. We'll rendezvous at Sector Alpha and get ready for the Zeevan mission."

―Apone to Bishop (from Aliens: Hive War)

During the survey mission on Tanaka 5, Drake was presumably scouting a different Sector to the other Marines, all alone. After the Marines destroyed the hive and clawed their way back to the surface, Apone had Bishop contact Drake and tell him to rendezvous with them at Sector Alpha to prepare for the Zeevan mission.

Zeevan

Touch Down

"...They may be aliens, but they're not bugs!"
"But they're headin' right for us!"
"You mean right by us!"

―Apone and Drake (from Aliens: Jungle Attack)

After landing their UD-4 "Cheyenne" Dropship on Zeevan at 0800 hours, the Marines split up and began scouting the area. Bishop picked up multiple signals converging on the Marines' position. It turned out the signals were not Xenomorphs but a troop of indigenous tetrabrachial-apes, which Drake originally assumed were hostile as they were charging towards the Marines, however, Apone corrected him in that they were running past them and away from something else.

Ripley soon spotted a Gorilla Alien in the trees above their position, but it passed over the Marines and attacked Bishop in the dropship. The Alien spat acid at the dropship which melted through some of the dropship's ordinance, causing the dropship to explode but not before Bishop made it to safety and told the other Marines to run. The Marines then set up camp in the jungle to rest for the night while they waited for aid from Earth colony TerraForm 3.

While there were no more sightings of the Gorilla Aliens for most of the night, their luck soon ran out as the Xenomorphs attacked the camp. Drake was more than eager for a fight and enjoyed every second of cutting apart Xenomorphs with his Smart Gun, telling Ripley to not be so tense to which Hicks told him to not be so cocky. During the chaos, Ripley went missing, with the Marines only realizing after they killed all the Xenomorphs.

Rescuing Ripley

"Babe and bug are in my sights!"

―Drake (from Aliens: Meltdown)

The Marines tracked Ripley's signal through the jungle until Drake spotted her flamethrower on the ground near a tree-top hive at 0100 hours. Bishop pinpointed her location as directly above the Marines and Drake confirmed that he saw her being carried by a Gorilla Alien. Drake recalled the maneuver they pulled on Nekko 6, reminding Apone and telling Ripley to hang onto something. The two Marines then shot the branch under the Alien, causing it to fall and drop Ripley, with Apone catching her.

Ripley then told Drake to bring down the hive, with him and the other Marines shooting the hive chambers out of the tree. This caused a swarm of Gorilla Aliens to pour out of the fallen hive and attack the Marines. After finishing them all off, the Queen arrived, with Drake commenting on how it was just a cute little Queen. Apone told him to can it, as they were too low on ammunition to take on a Queen Xenomorph.

Killing the Queen

"Cool! Canned Queen! But what do we do with it now?"

―Drake (from Aliens: Meltdown)

Apone called for Bishop to assist them, he then arrived almost immediately in an EVAC Fighter and captured the Queen. Drake then asked what they were going to do with her now she was captured, Bishop told the Marines that there was an active volcano nearby and then dropped the Queen inside. Apone asked if all the eggs were destroyed, to which Drake replied by stating that the jungle was one giant scrambled egg. The Marines were satisfied with the destruction of the hive and Queen, so they headed back to TerraForm 3 for some rest and recuperation, stating that they could come back for a thorough cleanup later.

TerraForm 3

The Bull Alien

"Yeah, except the bad guys, are aliens!"

―Drake (from Aliens: Showdown)

At 2200 hours in the Tuva Settlement on TerraForm 3, the Marines were relaxing and chatting about prior events. When Apone stated that the settlement reminded him of old cowboy videos he saw as a child, Drake chimed in by saying that this time the bad guys were Aliens. Ripley said she had her fill of Aliens in the past few days, to which Drake responded that she was the ace bug-hunter.

Just before the Marines were about to head inside, a panicked rancher pulled up and started frantically explaining how his cattle were disappearing and how he noticed something strange among them, which then broke through the fence and charged at him before stopping and hissing. Just as he said that he hoped that it hadn't followed him, the Bull Alien galloped down the street and flipped the rancher's truck. The Marines sprung into action and Hicks fired an RPG known as the Bug Rocker directly at the Xenomorph's head, however, the creature was unscathed. He fired again but this time at the truck's fuel cell, igniting a massive fire that killed the Xenomorph. The Marines learned that the Bull Alien was weak to fire and so planned to stock up on flamethrowers.

The Ranch Infestation

"Much obliged, sister! Now make some room — 'cause the Corps' baddest Smart-gunner is on the scene!"
"What an ego!"

―Drake and Ripley (from Aliens: Stampede)

After sending out an alert to all the ranchers on TerraForm 3, the Marines had heard back from all but one. They then mobilized in Stinger XT-37s to their location to confirm the presence of a Xenomorph. Bishop pointed out that the residents of the ranch had been out of contact for more than a week, more than enough time for Xenomorphs to set up a hive. As they moved in, a few Bull Aliens watched on from the long grass.

Drake told Bishop to lighten up and suggested that maybe the ranchers just left, comparing the desolateness of the planet to the prison colony he was born on. Bishop told him that his hypothesis was about to be tested as he had picked up an approaching target on the long-range scanners. Soon after a Bull Alien charged into the side of Drake's Stinger and flipped it. He asked Ripley for assistance, who then torched the Alien. Drake thanked her and told to her make room for him on her Stringer, jumping on to the side.

19 more Bull Aliens stampeded their way, with the Marines switching to flamethrowers to deal with them. However, there were too many of them and Bishop implored Ripley to call a retreat. Immediately after, the Xenomorphs retreated themselves, and the Marines tracked them back to an old farmhouse. Hicks and Drake expressed concern about chasing them down, but Ripley ignored them and told them to quiet down as she heard something in the stable. Upon closer inspection, she confirmed the Xenomorphs were hiding there, Bishop estimated over 50 creatures were inside and the Marines geared up to finish them off.

Behind the Scenes

Sergeant Drake is based on Mark Drake from the film Aliens. Sergeant Drake appeared alongside his fellow Space Marines in Kenner's Aliens toyline; as Mark Rolston did not agree to have his likeness used, the character received a fresh design. An animated commercial featuring the Space Marines was produced but ultimately was not aired. This toyline originally bore the Operation: Aliens moniker on the packaging but was rebranded as simply Aliens shortly after release. The figures came packaged with the alternate-universe Aliens: Space Marines comics, which fleshed out the characters as different people from the classic characters of the main Alien franchise.

A year later, the Operation: Aliens Combat Game board game was released which provided some back story for the Marines, further cementing them as wholly distinct from the classic characters. NECA would later redesign several of the Kenner figures and release them as part of their own Aliens toyline, each of which included a reprint of the original accompanying comic.

Appearances

• Aliens: Hive War (mentioned only)
• Aliens: Jungle Attack
• Aliens: Meltdown
• Aliens: Showdown
• Aliens: Stampede
• Aliens: Fireball
• Aliens: Night Strike
• Aliens: Swarm
• Aliens: Terrordome
• Aliens: Ice Storm
• Operation: Aliens Combat Game

Gallery

Drake and the Space Marines.

Figures

Kenner figure of Drake.

NECA redesign of Drake.

See Also

• Mark Drake