- "I have read your psych file Joseph Henry. I can see your mind at work as though it were gears and cogs on a workbench. You are so obsessed with destroying your father that your reason is incapacitated."
- ―Ernst Kleist to Henry (from Aliens: Colonial Marines)
Lieutenant Joseph "Hank" Henry was a member of the United States Colonial Marine Corps. He was assigned as punishment to the USS Melville with the reputed 'worst' Marine crew, to escort Alphatech executive Beliveau to convoy toxic waste to their SunGun for disposal and haul replacement labor to a deep space communication array.
The mission would eventually go awry, with the squad later involving itself in a war with the Xenomorph species and the mysterious leader of the Bug-Men, Father.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
- "Don't play dumb, hank. He's chairman of the Armed Sevices Committee, for God's sake... He is clout."
- ―Petrovic on Henry's father.
Born from the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and an unnamed woman, Joseph Henry grew up in an environment where he met many power-brokers due to his father's frequenting, and he ends up joining the Marines, a decision his mother never really approved of, as she wanted him to serve in the Public Service on Earth instead of roaming in space. Throughout his entire career, Joseph collected an impressive amount of insubordinations, but nearly every time the problems came back to his father's ear, and he'd always bail him out, to Joseph's annoyance. His last infraction to date was assaulting and breaking the jaw of a superior officer after catching the latter beating a fourteen-year-old prostitute. While stationed on Frontier Mobile Base 82 "Dover" he learned through a message from his father that his mother died.
Alphatech's hauler[]
- "You're getting out, but you ain't getting off. You're getting the latrine duty of the day, the mother of all puke details. You're going to haul a replacement labor crew to an under-construction deep communications array. You will be in the middle of nowhere for an entire year, and you will be the commanding officer for this choice crew. They're all problem children, goldbricks, screw-ups- you'll like 'em."
- ―Petrovic to Henry (from Aliens: Colonial Marines)
While his father managed to arrange his son a discharge and a ticket back home, an officer named Petrovic, as punishment, assigned him command of the USS Melville and its infamous crew of insubordinate marines, to convoy toxic waste to Alphatech's Waste Disposal Facility "SunGun", and to transport Alphatech personell to a deep space communication array for a year. After meeting and exchanging courtesies with Alphatech executive Beliveau, he is interrupted by Sgt. Nyland who adviced him on the consequences that his behavior could have on the ragtag band of Marines. Once accustomed with his team and Liston, Alphatech's security synthetic, he ordered his team to prepare their gear and go into hypersleep.
Mission in SunGun[]
Henry disciplining his squad.
When arriving in the SunGun vicinity, Henry tried to contact the facility, but received no response and summoned Beliveau to inform him on the situation. Fearing a problem, Beliveau ordered Sgt. Nyland to wake up his own security team to assess the situation. Henry additionally ordered to wake the Marines up. Beliveau protested, citing that the matter is non-military, but Henry is adamant.
After losing contact with the security team, Henry overstepped Beliveau's authority and put the Marines on operation. However, as his men were disinclined and refused to gear up, Henry was forced to physically discipline them. Once back in line, they boarded the SunGun and explored the interior, eventually discovering that they were dealing with a Xenomorph infestation. Henry split from the group with Maryland and Bateman to sweep the operation platform, eventually encountering sole-survivor Dinkel. After some casualties following a skirmish with the Alien creatures, they managed to isolate themselves in the Zero-G well, learning that the hive is in the Tox-bay. Henry, alongside Rake, Chen and Dinkel, purged the Tox-bay hatch, sucking the majority of Xenormorphs into space. The squad retreated back into the Melville after suffering numerous losses, though not before taking a member of the terrorist cult, the Bug-Men hostage. They also retrieved Beliveau's chief of security, Vormitag, who survived the incident.
Stopover to Bracken's World[]
- "Do you people really think anybody gives a damn about your backwater little world? If your governor had caught me in a bad mood, you'd all be dead by now !"
- ―Henry disregarding Bracken's World citizen pledges for destroying their farms (from Aliens: Colonial Marines)
Henry gives a 'motivational speech' to his squad.
Henry initially planned to dump Beliveau, Liston and Vormitag on the aquatic planet 'Bracken's World and return to base. However when arriving on orbit they discovered a mysterious local comm in constant with a sub-space array in a kelp farm. While Nyland and Private Vasquez escorted Alphatech's personnel to the main colony, with Beech staying on the ship, Henry took the rest of the team to investigate the signal and discover an Alphatech outpost. Inside, they encountered a transmission from the Bug-men and were subsequently ambushed by a horde of them wielding Alphatech weaponry. The squad was rescued by Maryland driving APC but were subsequently stranded in vast kelp farms, where they were attacked by aquatic Xenomorphs. After several waves, they were rescued by Nyland and Vasquez at the command of the other dropship, subsequently seeking refuge in the small colony Sector 1.
Henry buying the micro-bombs.
Perturbated by the transmission seen at the outpost, Henry refused to tell neither the colony council nor Nyland what he saw. Becoming paranoid and doubting his men's loyalty, he bought miniature explosive implants, intending to inject them into their necks to ensure their "loyalty". Henry went on to abide by the local governor's request of dealing with the Xenomorphs and took command of the colony's defense. The group subsequently become involved in a skirmish with a horde of aquatic Xenomorphs. Eventually, with the assistance of local legend Herk Mondo, the Xenomorph threat was quelled, but consequently left the colony in a fiery ruins.
Henry was chastised by the colony's governor and suffered the councils' wrath for the Marines destroying their farms, though Henry angrily dismissed their claims. He was then called by Beliveau, who asked him to take him along with Vormitag, while Henry first dismissed the executive's request he changed his mind when Beliveau picked his curiosity about classified information he could share with him.
War against the Bug-Men and the search for the 'Father'[]
Henry reveals that the crew have been implanted with mirco-bombs.
Henry later briefed the Marines, informing them that the comm array had been overrun by Bug-Men, also revealing to the other's shock that he had implanted them with micro-bombs within their necks. Liston suddenly informed them of the Melville's destruction, the resultant of Beech being in severe Royal Jelly withdrawal and unable to correct the ship's deteriorating orbit, something apparently foreseen by the prisoner Bug-man.
With the squad now stranded, Beliveau revealed that he possessed a weapons cache hidden in the Joliet Mining Facility and a FTL capable spacecraft. After arriving at the facility, the marines were greeted by the Shop steward, a synthetic previously tasked by Beliveau to ensure the security of the facility. As such, he had been leading a small militia of prototype synthetics, successfully defending Joliet from Xenomorph attacks for several weeks. After Carmen and the marines stocked up on their new weaponry, they took leave on Beliveau's Alphatech Assaultcraft during a Xenomorph ambush, with the shop steward sacrificing himself to allow the Marines safe-passage out of the facility.
En route to Alphatech's research station Henry intended to have Rake hijack Liston and discover Beliveau's true agenda, with the latter successfully disabling the android. Henry joined the others in a meeting to reveal his mission's true purpose. Suddenly, however, Vormitag, in a drug-induced psychosis, executed Beliveau, before then being blunted to death by Rosemas, also in withdrawal. Nyland later revealed to him the presence of Royal Jelly onboard to his shock. He and Nyland confronted the Bug-man prisoner, though he was unconscious, going though an even more severe withdrawl. Rake successfully had Liston re-programmed and Henry finally obtained the details of Beliveau's true mission - investigating on the loss of their communication array; Beliveau had to clear the company's name and find the real culprit in the name of a USCM Colonel named Alan Bradshaw.
When the Marines reached Alphatech research station #2378, the base interior had been totally overrun by Xenomorphs. After having Liston download all necessary data, they encountered a large horde of Xenomorphs, which Liston swiftly took action and slaughtered them with ease. The squad returned to the assault craft, but see it surrounded by hundreds of Xenomorphs. After the creatures suddenly became disorientated, the group seized the opportunity to board the ship and leave, with Henry ordering the abandonment of Sgt Nyland, who separated from the group. This action caused the crew to despise Henry even more, creating a large rift between him and his men.
Final Fight & Death[]
Liston rips Henry's heart out and deactivates the detonator.
- "Liston, you've got to get them back alive... Get them back to the ship. Whatever it takes, you've got to get them back to the ship..."
- ―Henry's final request to Liston before he rips his heart out (from Aliens: Colonial Marines)
The Marines finally reached the Bug-Men's primary base - the Alphatech communication array, where the Melville crew was supposed to be assigned first, now heavily infested with Xenomorph. Henry boarded the station by violently crashing into the interior. Losing his mind further, Henry launched a full-scale assault to the station's core - the supposed location of Alan Bradshaw. The assault was a disaster, Henry losing the majority of his men during the attack, but he eventually managed to encounter Bradshaw himself, the Father, formerly the scientist Ernst Kleist.
Bradshaw being merely a scapegoat used by Alphatech to mask his activities, Father taunted Henry before being executed by the latter, triggering the base's self-destruct system. Having lost a lot of blood, in a last momentum of lucidity and humanity, he begged Liston to take his men back home alive, Liston executed his order by ripping his heart out and defusing the detonator. His body was later destroyed alongside the research station following its imminent detonation.
Equipment[]
Beyond his military fatigues, during the exploration of the SunGun he donned a comm headset and an EVA suit. On Bracken's World he wore a variant of the standard issue M3 Pattern Personal Armor and an M10 Pattern Ballistic Helmet for protection and wore only the helmet during the final assault. He is first equipped with an unidentified assault rifle equipped with an over-and-under grenade launcher and an unidentified pistol, after the passage on Joliet facility, he equipped himself with an Alphatech assault rifle. He was also equipped with a kill switch in his heart linked with micro bombs planted in his squad's necks; the bomb would detonate if they strayed too far away from Henry's vicinity or if his heart stopped beating.
Personality and Traits[]
Henry was an arrogant and unstable individual who was prone to acts of insubordination. He developed a resentment for his father whom neglected him when he was young, only ever intervening when he got into trouble. On the other hand, he deeply loved his mother and was devastated by her death.
As his mission with the squad progressed, he soon delved into a deep paranoia, alienating his already distrustful crew and resorting to more extreme measures to keep them in check.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
