Dr. Mark Cruz was a veteran Colonial Marine who worked for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation as a xenobiologist at Pala Station.
Biography
Early Life.
Mark Cruz grew up in a ghetto of storage containers on LV-223, a Weyland-Yutani distribution planet that doubled as an intergalactic trash dump. As a child, Cruz's parents struggled to feed him, which made him want to get off-planet to have a better future. When he was old enough, he managed to stow away, only to be discovered and jailed at his destination. He'd been given a choice to either remain in prison or join the Colonial Marines.[1]
At marine training, he'd enjoyed turning his body into a killing machine and learning how to use a weapon—a pulse rifle. He'd enjoyed bringing down an insurrection from a planet just like his own and people just like his own on his first and second deployments. He'd seen, from the other side, the squalor that people, like his own family, were forced to live in.
Skirmish at LV-832.
On his third deployment, his squad had been assigned settlement protection on LV-832 where the colonists had encountered carnivorous moose-sized creatures with tentacles—xenomorphic quadrupeds that violently attacked and killed every one of his comrades. The forward observer died first, then Snyder, Schnexnader and Correia. Cruz decided to save himself and ran from the attack.[2]
Arriving at Pala Station.
Later in life, Cruz managed to parlay military service into a collegiate opportunity, finished with a graduate degree in xenobiology, and went to work for Weyland-Yutani at a classified research facility on LV-895 called Pala Station in 2199[3]. Weyland-Yutani gave Cruz the opportunity to research the effects of a pathogen of unknown origin on living creatures, indigenous to the jungle planet on which they were stationed. It was with this pathogen that Cruz was able to develop a prototype for acid resistant body armor, securing his place in any Wey-Yu lab in the known systems.
By January 12, 2202, Cruz was testing environmental effects on a pathogen infected specimen called Rat-X when he was introduced to Dr. Timothy Hoenikker, recently arrived. He explains him the pathogen allows the creature survive temperatures below zero.[4] Dr. Mark Prior called him the resident psychopath, Cruz stated it's not a psychopathic torturing creatures which want to kill them. He also explains to Hoenikker that the pathogen is rumored to have been found in a ghost ship floating in space.[5]
Cruz was using test subject, Rat-X, looking on more ways to neutralize the xenomorphs acid blood, and making them easier to kill with conventional weapons. Suddenly, he had flashbacks of his failed mission at LV-832 and blacked out in its containment room. He regain his senses just in time to subdue his subject with fire before it escaped.
Later, Cruz arrived at the lab in time to warn Hoenikker and Dr. Erin Kash about Rat-X, which escaped its enclosure by spitting acid to the glass and out of the lab thanks to Mansfield, who opened the door in that moment. Cruz finally managed to kill the creature with a flamethrower he had previously stored there, but not before losing one man.[6]
Death.
- "I was never meant to make it off this rock. My entire job was to lead you scientists. I know, I know, I’m a scientist too—but at heart, I am a Colonial Marine. I want to go down fighting."
- ―Cruz, to Hoenikker (Aliens: Infiltrator).
Cruz died when he made a one last charge against Seven and eleven juvenile xenos, dosing the creatures with fuel from his Flamethrower and ignited them. He ordered Hoenniker fire at the tank on his back, exploding and killing them.[7]
Contributions
Trivia
- In Aliens: Infiltrator, Mark Cruz is said to have grown up on LV-223, a Weyland-Yutani distribution planet that doubled as an intergalactic trash dump. This description contradicts what is known about the moon, LV-223, that serves as the primary setting for the film Prometheus.
Appearances
References.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 25 (2021), Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 27 (2021), Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 211 (2021) Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 21 (2021), Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 24 (2021), Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 46 (2021), Titan Books.
- ↑ Weston Ochse, Aliens: Infiltrator, p. 287 (2021) Titan Books.