Aliens: Frenzy: Plot, Characters & Lore

Aliens: Frenzy, originally published as Aliens: Berserker, was John Wagner and Paul Mendoza's four-issue Dark Horse series from January to April 1995. It followed the Colonial Marine hunter-killer crew of Nemesis, whose drug-controlled MAX combat suit was used to destroy Xenomorph hives. A diversion to DS Service Terminal 949 exposed a concealed Company operation and left the team fighting both the infestation and its own commander. S. D. Perry adapted the story as the 1998 novel Aliens: Berserker.

Plot Summary

Arrival At Deep 4

The hunter-killer ship Nemesis reached Deep 4, a silurium mine on Traon, after an infestation trapped thirty-one workers underground. Two Xenomorphs had arrived inside an excavator recovered from the Proteus base. Supervisor Sturges had sealed the affected shaft, but acid blood had destroyed the hoist cable and communications line. Eight days had passed without contact with the trapped miners.

Commander Izzard, known to his crew as Pop, organized a clearance rather than a rescue. Jess led the ground team, accompanied by gunner Pulaski and point man Teape. Lara handled communications, while the newly assigned medic Ellis monitored their principal weapon. Izzard ordered an eight-hour nuclear fail-safe placed below the surface, despite Sturges's objections that an explosion would destroy the valuable deposits.

The Mobile Assault Exo-Warrior

The MAX Berserker armor from Aliens: Berserker

The team's MAX, or Mobile Assault Exo-Warrior, was a heavily armed exoskeleton controlled by a living human operator. Its armor carried a flamethrower, pulse weapons and grenade launchers. The operator remained under intravenous sedation between engagements and traveled on a powered carrier until required. The carrier let the crew position the heavy suit without waking him or expending its combat endurance. Ellis checked its medical systems before the team moved into the mine.

A staged infusion of Synthetic Adrenaline brought the operator out of sedation and into a destructive combat state. The team could then direct him toward a target using a beacon. Izzard warned that a malfunction would endanger everyone accompanying the suit, since its operator could attack anything obstructing him. The system therefore depended on medical supervision, reliable communications and protective identification signals.

Teape's Capture In The Hive

Xenomorphs carrying the armored Teape into their hive

Jess's party descended through the damaged shaft, dropping Relay Beacons to maintain contact with Nemesis. A Facehugger confirmed that the infestation had developed beyond the two creatures reported by Sturges. After placing the fail-safe, Teape advanced alone through the tunnels. His task was to attract the adults and allow himself to be taken into their breeding chamber.

The Xenomorphs carried Teape into the hive as a potential host. His protective mask obstructed implantation, while a transmitter allowed Izzard to follow his progress and locate the Queen. Teape had accepted the dangerous assignment in return for a reduction in his prison sentence. Around him, the captured miners were embedded in the hive material, with little prospect of being recovered alive. His live camera feed showed the condition of the hosts and allowed Izzard to supervise the attack without entering the nest.

Destruction Of The Deep 4 Hive

MAX and the ground team inside the burning Deep 4 hive

Once Teape reached the egg chamber, the crew released MAX from sedation and increased his adrenaline in three stages. The suit descended into the mine and forced its way through the defending adults. Flames, automatic fire and grenades destroyed the creatures and their surroundings. Its homing system guided it toward Teape rather than requiring Jess's party to identify a route through the nest.

Teape's beacon also provided a Weapons Override, preventing the suit from firing directly within two feet of him. MAX destroyed the Queen and devastated the chamber without killing the point man. Ellis then restored sedation, and Jess and Pulaski entered to eliminate the remaining creatures and release Teape. The surviving team returned to Nemesis, leaving Sturges with a mine that could be reclaimed but no rescued workforce.

Diversion To DS 949

Acid damage on a docking bay of DS Service Terminal 949

The crew expected leave after Traon, but Company executive Grigson diverted Nemesis to DS Service Terminal 949 in Quad Nine Four Niner. The station had stopped responding, and reports suggested another infestation. Its permanent staff exceeded four hundred, with additional accommodation for transfer passengers and facilities capable of servicing four Galaxy-class vessels at once. A disaster there could involve close to a thousand people.

Nemesis found DS 949 drifting among debris with acid damage on its lower hull. Repeated radio calls and requests for a visual signal received no answer. Lara noticed a creature moving inside one of its transparent recreational domes, confirming that the infestation extended into occupied areas. Jess requested support, but Izzard chose to investigate before asking Grigson for reinforcements.

Boarding The Service Terminal

The armored shuttle and landing party inside DS 949

Jess, Pulaski, Teape and Lara approached in the ship's Armored Shuttle. Their immediate objective was the station's command center, where Lara could connect a relay and restore access to the internal surveillance network. Izzard remained aboard Nemesis to supervise, while Ellis stayed with the sedated MAX. The landing party entered through an airlock and found the station's corridors littered with human remains.

An elevator contained a swarm of Facehuggers that attacked as the team investigated. One reached Lara's face, but her mask prevented it from attaching. Jess pulled it away, and the team killed it before applying an acid neutralizer. Lara survived the attack, and they continued by the stairs, shooting the adults encountered on the route to the hub. Her communications equipment was essential to the reconnaissance, so the team pressed on to reach the control consoles rather than returning to the shuttle.

Restoring The Station's Communications

The hunter-killer team entering the damaged command center of DS 949

The Command Center had been wrecked, explaining the station's failure to transmit. Lara found the external communications equipment destroyed, but the internal audiovisual console remained usable. She installed a relay that linked the surviving security cameras to Nemesis. Izzard could inspect rooms, trace the team's movements and guide them around threats, although emergency power limited the system's coverage.

The first surveillance search revealed No Survivors and failed to locate the main hive. Jess's team prepared to return after establishing the connection, with Pulaski taking a bottle of champagne from the command center's supplies. Lara killed an adult that seized Teape during their withdrawal. The party returned to Nemesis with evidence of a much larger infestation than the mine clearance had involved.

The Arboretum Sweep

Jess and the team shooting a Xenomorph beside the arboretum waterfall

Grigson refused both Reinforcements and permission to destroy the station. The mission had to be completed by the existing crew, with DS 949 recovered intact. Izzard passed those restrictions to the others without explaining the Company's underlying interest. Teape's service in exchange for release from prison, and the thirty missions required of other crew members, gave them little freedom to reject the assignment.

Jess, Pulaski and Teape searched the station's Arboretum under Lara's remote guidance. Trees, a waterfall, a rock pool and an ornamental bridge concealed individual adults from direct observation. The team shot the creatures Lara located on the cameras and confirmed that the recreational area was contaminated. Further surveillance found greater concentrations near the docking bays, drawing the clearance operation toward the station's principal hive.

MAX's Medical Deterioration

Ellis accompanying MAX while reporting the operator's deteriorating health

Ellis detected increasingly serious problems with the MAX Operator. Fluctuating vital signs, an abnormal ECG and unstable blood sugar suggested pancreatic deterioration. Medication temporarily stabilized him, but Ellis warned that drugs could only sustain him for an uncertain period. Lara urged Izzard to abort, arguing that the operator belonged in a hospital rather than in combat armor.

Izzard refused to suspend the Mission and ordered Ellis to accompany MAX onto the station. The medic's contract specified a noncombat role, but Izzard overruled the objection because Jess and Pulaski needed their hands free to fight. With the team depending on the suit to break through the hive, continuing the operation placed both its ill operator and the other crew members at risk.

The Loss Of The Ground Team

Xenomorphs attacking along the docking bay corridors

The advance toward the Docking Bays met concentrated attacks from adult Xenomorph warriors filling the corridors. Communications with Nemesis failed when the primary relay connection was severed. Lara boarded the terminal herself to repair it and discovered that the cables had been cut. A Facehugger attacked her at the communications equipment. She injured it with a knife and exposed electrical contacts, then forced it into a refrigerator and shut the door. The confined creature remained alive while she restored the connection.

Elsewhere, Pulaski was seized by an adult, impaled by its bladed tail and severely wounded in the neck. Jess defended him until the adults seized Teape and carried him away. The loss of the point man, the gunner's injuries and the absence of communications left Jess unable to advance or withdraw safely. When Lara restored the relay, Izzard learned that the team needed MAX immediately, while Jess remained beside the dying Pulaski.

The Concealed Company Trader

The Company trader concealed in the infested docking bay

Teape's captors took him into a Weyland-Yutani Trader docked inside the terminal. The ship was extensively overgrown with hive material and contained eggs, cocooned humans and other captive organisms. Its markings exposed the Company's connection to the disaster. Lara and the others could see why Grigson had refused outside help and demanded that the station survive long enough for its records to be recovered.

Izzard acknowledged that the real objective was the trader's Data Log. Once the information had been transmitted, the evidence was to be destroyed. Teape's beacon continued to identify the hive's position, but the sick MAX operator failed during activation. Ellis refused an additional adrenaline dose that could kill him, opened the suit and discovered that the operator had died, leaving Jess and Teape without their expected support.

Ellis Takes Control Of MAX

Ellis fighting Xenomorphs after taking control of MAX

With Jess trapped and Teape facing implantation, Ellis removed the dead operator and climbed into the MAX suit himself. Lara warned that the normal neural interface required surgical preparation. Ellis had read the manual and knew that an emergency system could establish its own connection. The suit penetrated his skull to form that interface, causing intense pain as it connected him to the armor's controls.

Ellis initially struggled against the Targeting System and the suit's movements. Lara guided him through aiming, firing and walking, urging him to relax rather than fight the interface. He destroyed the adults surrounding the carrier and advanced toward the docking bays. His intervention restored the team's heavy firepower, but exposed an untrained medic to the same invasive machinery and physical strain that had damaged the previous operator.

The Assault On The Trader

Ellis firing the MAX weapons inside the trader's egg chamber

Ellis fought into the Trader's Hive, where Jess was cocooned near Teape. By the time the suit reached them, acid had destroyed much of Teape's face and torso. The point man had died before he could be rescued. Ellis continued through the egg chamber while Jess waited for him to overcome the defending creatures and open a path through the hive material. Eggs and Facehuggers surrounded the trapped men, leaving Jess dependent on the suit to prevent implantation.

The suit's Automatic Targeting complicated the rescue because Jess was no longer protected by his identification clothing. Ellis had to resist its attempt to engage him while fighting the surrounding adults and Facehuggers. Jess remained alive long enough for the armored medic to reach him. The effort required Ellis to control both the weapons and the interface under worsening physical stress.

The Queen And The Data Recovery

The Xenomorph Queen struck by the MAX weapons inside the trader

A Xenomorph Queen confronted the suit inside the trader. Ellis attacked her with the MAX Weapons and destroyed her before attempting to free Jess. He then used a cutting beam to remove the hive material around the trapped soldier. Jess escaped his cocoon, recovered a weapon and accompanied the suit through the burning corridors, while Ellis struggled to continue operating it. The medic had to use the same weapons that destroyed the nest precisely enough to avoid injuring the soldier he was rescuing.

Izzard ordered Jess to locate the ship's Primary Console and transmit its data to Nemesis. Jess protested the deaths of Teape and Pulaski but completed the transfer while Ellis protected him. With the download underway, Izzard directed the pair toward an auxiliary airlock and promised to meet them in the shuttle. He left the command center as the remaining transmission proceeded automatically.

Izzard's Betrayal

A Facehugger attacking Izzard after his betrayal of the Nemesis crew

Lara intercepted Izzard carrying a nuclear fail-safe into the station. He intended to destroy the evidence and leave Jess and Ellis behind, treating the hunter-killer crew as expendable witnesses. Lara resisted, but he threatened her with a pistol. He planned to take her away with him, believing they could have a future together after his remaining missions were completed.

While preparing to leave, Izzard opened the compartment containing Pulaski's Champagne and released the Facehugger Lara had confined there. It attacked him before he could defend himself, giving Lara an opportunity to escape. When Jess and Ellis arrived, Izzard asked for help, but she left him on the station. The armed fail-safe would trigger DS 949's reactor after a short delay, leaving the surviving three only minutes to reach the shuttle.

Escape From DS 949

The armored shuttle lifting off while Jess and MAX face the attacking Xenomorphs

Jess and Ellis fought through the remaining creatures to the Shuttle while Lara prepared their escape. The MAX covered the boarding under attack from adults around the airlock. Their departure left the suit behind with Izzard and the station's infestation. The shuttle launched before the fail-safe detonated, passing Nemesis as the larger vessel remained close to the doomed terminal.

The Explosion destroyed DS 949 and Nemesis, while Lara, Jess and Ellis escaped aboard the smaller craft. Ellis survived the neural interface but emerged badly traumatized, and the others could not determine how fully he would recover. With their ship gone, they depended on being picked up. The precise contents of the Company's recovered information remained unknown to the survivors.

Key Characters

Jess led the ground team during the Deep 4 clearance and the DS 949 operation. He defended the wounded Pulaski, survived capture in the trader's hive, and escaped after Ellis freed him. He also transmitted the Company ship's data under Izzard's orders.
Lara operated communications and surveillance, guiding the ground team through the station. She survived two Facehugger attacks, repaired the severed relay, and opposed Izzard's decision to continue with the dying MAX operator. She escaped his betrayal and piloted the survivors away from DS 949.
Ellis was the newly assigned medic responsible for monitoring MAX's operator. He recognized the man's medical deterioration and objected to being sent into combat. After the operator died, Ellis established an emergency neural connection to the suit, rescued Jess and escaped with serious psychological trauma.
Izzard, called Pop, commanded Nemesis and directed its clearance missions remotely. He obeyed Grigson's orders to recover the trader's data and eliminate witnesses, then attempted to abandon Jess and Ellis while taking Lara with him. A Facehugger subdued him before the station exploded.
Teape served as the point man and living bait, using a protective mask and homing beacon to survive capture. He had volunteered for the dangerous role to reduce his prison sentence. He survived Deep 4 but died from acid injuries in the trader's hive before he could be rescued.
Pulaski was the team's gunner and fought beside Jess and Teape during both operations. He took a bottle of champagne from the station's command center and joked about his eventual retirement. A Xenomorph inflicted fatal wounds during the docking-bay fighting, leaving Jess to defend him as the others were scattered.
MAX's Operator was a sedated human connected to the combat suit, awakened for battle through staged stimulant doses. His deteriorating health included abnormal vital signs and unstable blood sugar. He died during the DS 949 operation, forcing Ellis to replace him inside the armor.
Grigson was the Company executive who diverted Nemesis from its scheduled leave to investigate DS 949. He refused reinforcements and a nuclear strike until the trader's confidential information had been recovered. His instructions placed corporate secrecy ahead of the lives of the clearance team.

Editions

Dark Horse released the four original issues under the title Aliens: Berserker, with cover dates from January to April 1995. John Wagner wrote the script, Paul Mendoza supplied pencils, Andy Mushynsky inked the art, Cary Porter colored it, and Steve Dutro provided lettering. Kilian Plunkett painted the covers and supplied the title illustration reproduced in the omnibus.

Aliens Omnibus Volume 4 collected the story as Frenzy in 2008, together with Aliens: Music of the Spears, Aliens: Stronghold, Aliens: Taste, Aliens: Mondo Pest and Aliens: Mondo Heat. The collected title distinguished this printing from the original Berserker issues and Perry's novel. Marvel later reprinted Berserker #1-4 in Aliens: The Original Years Omnibus Volume 3, published in 2022.

S. D. Perry expanded the comic into the Bantam Spectra novel Aliens: Berserker in August 1998. The adaptation retained the Deep 4 clearance, the diversion to DS 949 and the conflict over the trader's records, while developing the crew's histories and relationships in greater detail. Titan Books later paired that novel with Music of the Spears in The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume Four.

Behind The Scenes

The distinction between Frenzy And Berserker concerned publication titles rather than separate comic stories. The omnibus credited Wagner as writer and Mendoza as penciller, while its opening illustration depicted Nemesis deploying MAX above a hive. The combat system followed the use of drug-controlled Berserker armor in Aliens: Tribes, with Frenzy emphasizing the carrier, point-man beacon and remotely administered medical controls.

Lara, Jess And Ellis continued into Aliens vs. Predator: War, where they encountered Machiko Noguchi and the Predators on Bunda. Their escape at the end of Frenzy therefore led into a crossover rather than a return to ordinary service. War also continued Ellis's association with the combat armor, while the original Nemesis and DS 949 had been destroyed. The surviving characters appeared again in Aliens vs. Predator: Three World War, extending their connection to Machiko beyond the first crossover.

Conclusion

Aliens: Frenzy followed the Nemesis hunter-killer team from a successful mine clearance to the destruction of DS 949. Wagner and Mendoza's story ended with Lara, Jess and Ellis escaping a Company cover-up, while Teape, Pulaski and the original MAX operator died. The survivors' subsequent encounter with Machiko continued in Aliens vs. Predator: War.