Aliens: Cargo: Plot, Characters & Lore
Aliens: Cargo was a sixteen-page Dark Horse Comics story written by Dan Jolley, pencilled by John Nadeau and inked by Terry Pallot. It first appeared in two parts in Dark Horse Comics #15-16 in November and December 1993. The story followed Gerald Coile, a Caribbean smuggler who informed on his employer and hoped to leave the business after one last delivery. That consignment brought him aboard a deserted cargo cruiser, where a living Xenomorph and a destroyed escape boat turned the voyage into an attempt to survive his employer's revenge.
Plot Summary
Coile's Last Run
Gerald Coile made his living smuggling Royal Jelly and Xeno-Zip through the Caribbean. After Xeno-Zip was outlawed, the trade continued to provide profitable runs between suppliers and buyers. Coile decided to leave it by cooperating with federal authorities against his employer, Vasco. He expected the district attorney to arrange relocation and a new identity in exchange for his information.
His agreement required One Final Delivery before he could disappear. Coile crossed the sea at night with a sealed container aboard his small boat, expecting to deliver it, collect his money and return to the mainland. He planned to fly to Washington the following morning. The trip took him to Vasco's much larger cargo cruiser, where he found no one waiting to receive him.
The Deserted Cruiser
Vasco's Cruiser combined working cargo facilities with the comforts of a wealthy owner's vessel, including palm trees on its deck. Its multiple levels were connected by a mag-tube system. Coile resented the luxury his employer enjoyed, but completed the docking procedure and went aboard. The absence of a welcoming crew forced him to handle the container himself.
Coile operated the deck crane and lowered the Sealed Cargo through an open hatch. He then searched for someone who could pay him, entering the deserted bridge. The ship had only auxiliary power available, leaving it unable to sail away. With no explanation for the empty vessel, he returned below to inspect the container, which began sounding an electronic signal.
Vasco's Betrayal
The container played a recording from Vasco, who knew that Coile had spoken to federal investigators. He addressed his employee by the familiar name Jerry and told him to look toward his boat. A bomb left aboard the smaller craft exploded, destroying Coile's route back to shore. The delivery had brought him to an isolated vessel where Vasco intended to kill him.
The Container opened as Vasco explained the rest of his revenge. Instead of smuggled merchandise, it held a living adult Xenomorph. Vasco wanted the creature to eat Coile before he brought it home, and threatened to decorate a new scarf with the remains. He delivered the threat remotely, leaving Coile alone with the animal.
The Released Xenomorph
The Xenomorph emerged into the cargo hold while Coile stood near the doorway. His plan to inform on Vasco had been exposed, and the vessel offered no crew who might intervene. Coile recognized that the container had transported an executioner rather than an ordinary consignment. He fled the compartment and tried to shut the heavy hatch behind him.
The barrier gave Coile time to reach the deck, but The Destroyed Boat left him without a practical escape. Fire and smoke rose from the water beside the cruiser. He turned to the ship's computer, hoping that a lifeboat, weapon or functioning transmitter could provide another option. Its status report showed how thoroughly Vasco had prepared the trap.
Search For An Escape
The Ship's Computer reported that there were no lifeboats or weapons aboard. Communications, navigation and the main drive were inoperable, the reactor was offline and the batteries retained only a small reserve. Coile could not call for help or simply steer the vessel to land. He searched the remaining functions for something that could be used against his pursuer.
Meanwhile, the Xenomorph forced its way through the cargo-hold hatch and entered the passageways. Coile abandoned the attempt to keep it permanently contained behind a door. The cruiser's internal transport system offered another possibility: he could draw the creature into a mag tube, close the entrance and use the machinery to attack it from elsewhere aboard the ship.
The Blood Trail
Coile cut his own arm and left a Trail Of Blood through the corridors. He concealed himself nearby, uncertain whether the Xenomorph would follow the droplets or seek him out directly. The animal advanced along the route and approached the opening in the floor. Coile depended on its interest in his blood to bring it within reach of the mag-tube entrance.
The Mag Tube provided a confined space that the creature could enter without being physically forced inside. Once it descended, Coile operated a wall control and sealed the opening. He then returned to the bridge to access the drive's diagnostic functions. The success of the lure gave him a temporary separation from the Xenomorph, but he needed enough electrical power to finish the attempt.
The Mag-Drive Trap
Coile selected the Mag-Drive Test from the maintenance menu and used the remaining auxiliary supply to build full compression. The confined Xenomorph struck against the interior while the drive charged. When the test reached the required level, electrical energy engulfed the creature. The improvised use of the ship's transport machinery killed it and ended Vasco's immediate attempt on Coile's life.
The encounter demonstrated a practical vulnerability to electrical energy, but Coile survived by combining the drive with confinement and a lure. He had no gun and could not rely on the vessel's normal propulsion or communications. Vasco's Equipment, intended to leave him helpless, supplied the means of defeating the creature that had been delivered to kill him.
Coile's Revenge
Some time later, Vasco received a parcel at his tropical residence. An attendant identified the sender as Mr. Coile, which Vasco considered impossible because he believed the smuggler had become food for the Xenomorph. His confidence ended when he opened the box. Coile had sent him a living Facehugger with a short message announcing the surprise.
Vasco called for Aimee as he confronted the contents. The delivery established that Coile had survived long enough to retaliate against his employer, although it did not explain how he left the cruiser or obtained the parasite. Vasco's attempt to murder an informer with alien cargo was answered with another dangerous shipment. The story ended at the opened box, without following his subsequent fate.
Key Characters
- Gerald "Jerry" Coile was a smuggler who traded alien-derived substances in the Caribbean. He cooperated with federal authorities against Vasco, survived the resulting murder attempt and sent his former employer a Facehugger.
- Vasco was Coile's wealthy employer. He learned of the informer's cooperation, prepared the deserted cruiser as a trap and arranged for a Xenomorph to be released while Coile's boat was destroyed.
- The Xenomorph was an adult transported in a sealed container. It pursued Coile through the cruiser, followed his blood trail into a mag tube and died when he activated the drive's diagnostic test.
- Aimee was the person Vasco called for after opening Coile's parcel. The comic did not follow her response or establish what happened to the household after the Facehugger was discovered.
Editions
Dark Horse Comics #15-16 published Cargo in November and December 1993, with eight story pages in each installment. The collected credits named Dan Jolley as writer, John Nadeau as penciller, Terry Pallot as inker, James Sinclair as colorist and Clem Robins as letterer. George Pratt supplied the title illustration reproduced with the story in the omnibus.
Cargo was included as a bonus story in the Aliens: Kidnapped trade paperback in 1999 and collected again in Aliens Omnibus Volume 5 in 2008. Dark Horse paired it with Aliens: Reapers for a digital edition in June 2013. These collections brought the two original installments together as one continuous short story.
Marvel subsequently collected Cargo in Aliens: The Original Years Omnibus Volume 2, published in January 2022. Its contents included material from Dark Horse Comics #15-19 alongside longer miniseries such as Music of the Spears and Stronghold. The later collection preserved Cargo as a short anthology story rather than expanding it into a separate miniseries.
Behind The Scenes
Cargo used a contemporary smuggling arrangement within the wider trade in alien-derived substances. Coile's account specifically named Royal Jelly, Xeno-Zip and the latter's prohibition, while the physical setting remained the Caribbean. The story therefore brought a living Xenomorph into an isolated encounter on Earth, aboard a surface vessel rather than a spacecraft or planetary colony.
The Mag-Drive Trap depended on the cruiser's internal tube system. Coile did not restore its main engines or fire a shipboard weapon; he accessed a diagnostic test and used the machinery around the trapped creature. The final parcel reversed Vasco's method of sending alien life as a murder weapon, but left the source of Coile's Facehugger and Vasco's ultimate fate unexplained.
Cargo was followed in Dark Horse Comics #17-19 by Aliens: Alien, John Arcudi and Paul Mendoza's separate story about Suom and the Night Reaper. Its extraterrestrial village and hunting expedition were unrelated to Coile's Caribbean smuggling run.
Conclusion
Aliens: Cargo followed an informer's final delivery into a deserted cruiser prepared for his murder. Dan Jolley, John Nadeau and Terry Pallot concluded the sixteen-page story with Coile using the vessel's mag drive to kill the Xenomorph, then returning Vasco's threat through a Facehugger delivery. His planned retirement became a struggle against the employer he had betrayed.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Alien Comics
