Aliens: Tribes: Plot, Characters & Lore

Aliens: Tribes was a 1992 illustrated novella written by Steve Bissette and painted by Dave Dorman for Dark Horse Comics. Its prose and twenty-four full-page paintings followed a Colonial Marine Berserker squad sent to clear an infestation aboard the medical station TodLab LXI. Tunnel Rat located the hive, MOX 16 supplied the assault force and a consultant investigated the hospital's concealed research. The operation exposed Dr. Piers Cotlow's attempt to breed a new Queen, leaving the survivors caught between the creatures, an uncontrolled ExoWarrior and the station's implosion fail-safe.

Plot Summary

Quarantine At TodLab LXI

Commander 'Bort monitoring the TodLab mission from his command vessel

A military waste-retrieval unit discovered a living adult Xenomorph inside a medical disposal pod ejected from TodLab LXI. The orbital hospital had concealed its infestation, and the discovery brought a specialist Colonial Marine extermination team to the station. Commander 'Bort oversaw the operation from a separate command craft, reviewing the recording of the creature erupting from the pod while his personnel prepared to enter the hospital.

The incident recalled 'Bort's Injuries from an earlier infestation. He had survived the emergence of an alien from his body, but lost his legs and much of his independence, relying on a mobile life-support unit. His concern extended beyond destroying the hive. He monitored Tunnel Rat, a former lover whose childhood abuse and exposure to a Xenomorph-worshipping cult had shaped her response to the creatures. Their history remained largely unspoken during the mission.

Preparing The Berserker Team

Leader and a medical attendant supervising the restrained MOX 16

Tunnel Rat attached four Baby Boomer Implosion Charges to the station's exterior. The devices provided a fail-safe that would destroy TodLab if the squad failed or if a hostile organism tried to leave the perimeter. Communications specialist Ears connected the team to the hospital's surveillance network through fifteen remote units modeled on his own head. Point established forward positions while the squad's sergeant, known as Leader, supervised its main assault weapon.

That weapon was MOX 16, a two-ton Mobile Offensive ExoWarrior nicknamed Shitkicker. The man inside remained sedated beneath chains and medical tubing until needed. Leader checked the powered armor and its arm-mounted weapons, warning the hospital attendant that a lapse in sedation could make activation deadly to anyone nearby. Lieutenant Tsuruku Richards arrived as a civilian-style military consultant, and the team synchronized an eight-hour countdown before beginning the clearance.

The Hospital Investigation

Point examining organic residue in an infested hospital compartment

Richards sought an explanation from the hospital's executive, Dr. Piers Cotlow, who had hidden inside a time-locked pharmaceutical safe. Cotlow had also worked at MatteiLab XX, another installation where staff concealed an infestation and conducted unauthorized research. Richards challenged the altered records and failure to report the TodLab outbreak, while Cotlow blamed destructive military intervention and insisted that his own security personnel had dealt with the problem.

Meanwhile, Point entered a ruined operating theatre and found evidence that patients had been removed from hive cocoons for experiments. A dead surgeon held a yellow substance, and intravenous lines led into the bodies of infected hosts. The findings contradicted Cotlow's account. Richards studied the images and requested samples, suspecting an organized breeding program rather than an uncontrolled outbreak that the staff had simply tried to contain.

Tunnel Rat As Bait

Rows of Xenomorph eggs beyond the resin-covered entrance to the TodLab hive

Tunnel Rat approached the hive through the ventilation system, using hearing and familiarity with confined spaces to navigate. An abandoned cocoon and a dead Facehugger showed that a host's body had been removed, another sign of interference by the hospital staff. Near the breeding area she strung cutting wire across an opening, then made enough noise to attract the creatures. Her role was to let them capture her and take the team's tracking equipment into the hive toward the Queen.

The Xenomorphs carried Rat into the hive and bound her in their resin. She endured the capture by withdrawing into a trance-like state, a response associated with the abuse inflicted by her father, who had sacrificed her brother to the creatures. Ears explained that history to Richards as they monitored her. Her position and the sensors in her protective hip equipment gave the team a route toward the breeding chamber.

Cotlow And The Synthetic Jelly

Dr Piers Cotlow with the concealed experimental equipment beneath his coat

Richards identified the recovered substance as Synthetic Royal Jelly, used to encourage the development of Queen embryos. Cotlow was secretly carrying such an embryo himself. He had allowed a Facehugger to infect him inside the pharmaceutical safe and used a combination of drugs to delay emergence while promoting its development into a Queen. He also refused to evacuate the McCormick infant, intending the child to serve the next hive.

Confronted in the nursery, Cotlow admitted his devotion to the Xenomorphs. He regarded the creatures as divine and humanity as material for their reproduction, echoing the beliefs of other Xenomorph cults. When he attacked Richards, the consultant's counterattack struck a concealed stimulant reservoir. The sudden dose allowed the injured doctor to overpower Richards and break his neck. Cotlow disposed of the body through a waste hatch and killed Nurse Jaffry after she discovered him.

Rat's Rescue And MOX Activation

Tunnel Rat held in a resin cocoon beside an opening egg

Beside a closed egg, Rat activated the release system built into her hip equipment. After its short countdown, an explosive charge broke the cocoon and freed her before implantation. She marked her escape route with flares, shooting at creatures that tried to cut her off. Leader fought into the hive to reach her, while Ears tracked their positions and warned them of approaching attackers.

At the same time, Shitkicker received the successive stimulant doses that brought MOX 16 into action. He broke his restraints and followed the route displayed inside his helmet, using the beacon and Rat's flares to locate the hive. Leader reached Rat at a ventilation opening and covered her withdrawal. They moved away from the breeding chamber as the heavily armed ExoWarrior advanced through the defenders.

The Assault On The Queen

MOX 16 firing into the Queen during the TodLab hive assault

MOX 16 forced its way through the hive with grenades, pulse fire and flame. Xenomorphs climbed onto the armor, but Shitkicker used the electroprod to dislodge them and continued toward the royal chamber. The creatures' coordinated attacks could not stop him. Reaching the Queen, he struck her throat, torso and abdomen with grenade fire, then brought down the remains with his pulse weapons.

Shitkicker torched the chamber and pursued the defenders as they attempted to protect other hosts carrying Queen Embryos. Point, Leader and Rat began the cleanup operation behind him, killing infected hosts and the creatures developing inside them. Rat left the children for Leader to deal with. The sweep destroyed the visible breeding population, but the dying Queen sensed that another royal embryo remained alive outside the main hive.

The Hive's Counterattack

The mortally wounded Queen amid fire and the wreckage of her hive

Before dying, the Queen directed the surviving Xenomorphs to protect the embryo inside Cotlow. The creatures changed their behavior, moving around the cleanup party and concentrating near the nursery instead of continuing their usual attacks. The squad learned that Richards was dead and that Cotlow had killed a member of the hospital staff. Point was sent toward the nursery while Leader and Rat tried to clear the intervening passages.

The discovery of a Cocooned Boy overwhelmed Rat with memories of her brother. Leader killed the infected child, and the pair came under attack in the ducts. An adult Xenomorph dragged Leader through a damaged wall, separating them. Rat secured another creature with cutting wire and decapitated it when it lunged against the tether, but a further attacker struck her face and chest before she could reach the opening.

Rat In The Waste Shaft

Tunnel Rat struggling with a Xenomorph in the ventilation system

The attack left Rat wounded by the inner jaws, tail and acid blood. She fell into a dry waste-disposal chamber, where Ears remotely closed the iris above her before the creature could follow. The accumulated rubbish cushioned her fall. While trying to assess her injuries, she found discarded X-ray films among the papers and medical packaging.

The film showed an Embryo Inside Cotlow. Rat recognized the significance of the image and managed to read the doctor's name over the communications link. 'Bort ordered his remaining personnel to kill Cotlow, identifying him as the host of the new Queen. Leader survived his own encounter and continued toward Point, while Rat remained injured in the waste system beneath the developing battle.

Shitkicker Out Of Control

Leader clinging to Shitkicker's armor as the Berserker runs out of control

Shitkicker continued destroying the station after the hive assault, driven by repeated stimulant doses. The surviving Xenomorphs exploited his route by placing themselves in his path and releasing acid that weakened the deck. As the floors collapsed, the two-ton suit fell through successive levels toward the nursery and Rat's waste chamber. 'Bort ordered Leader to intercept MOX before its uncontrolled advance killed the remaining squad members.

Leader climbed onto the Exoskeleton, seeking a way to reach the occupant or disable the unit. Shitkicker treated the weight on his back as another attacker. He bent the flamethrower overhead, burned Leader and struck him with the electroprod, throwing off his body. Point witnessed the sergeant's death as MOX crashed through another weakened deck, with the Xenomorphs following its descent.

The Nursery Confrontation

Cotlow holding the infant against his chest while connected to his drug feeds

Point fought through the Xenomorphs guarding the nursery, suffering serious acid injuries to his arm and damage to his rifle. Inside, he found Cotlow surrounded by medical tubing, playing Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and holding something moving beneath his shirt. Ears urged Point to fire and leave, but the wounded Marine hesitated as he tried to understand what he was seeing.

An approaching Xenomorph left Point only moments to act. He fired into Cotlow's head and shoulder before the creature killed him with an inner-jaw strike. Ears broke down as the remote surveillance units carried his grief through the station. The creatures reached the communications room and killed him as well. 'Bort continued receiving images through the surviving monitoring network and focused on extracting Rat.

The Escape Pods

A medical waste container escaping the station as the implosion lights space behind it

'Bort released Rat into an ejectable waste pod as Shitkicker and the creatures tore through the shaft above her. The station then ejected another container holding Cotlow, Richards's body and the infant. Detection of the Queen embryo leaving the perimeter triggered the implosion fail-safe. Realizing that Rat's pod lay on a similar escape path, 'Bort drove his command ship between the blast and the containers in an attempt to shield her.

TodLab was destroyed, but Both Pods cleared the implosion. Rat drifted with a limited oxygen supply, her eventual rescue unresolved. Cotlow remained alive in the other container despite his wounds. The movement beneath his shirt had been the human infant, while the Queen continued developing inside his body. He expected to die and believed that his remains and the pod's other organic contents would sustain her until she could establish another hive.

Key Characters

Tunnel Rat was the infiltration specialist and bait carrier. She endured capture, escaped her cocoon and exposed Cotlow's infection through the discarded X-rays. She survived the implosion inside a waste pod, with little oxygen and no confirmed rescue.
Commander 'Bort directed the operation from an orbiting command vessel. An earlier infestation had left him severely disabled. He tried to save Rat, with whom he shared a troubled personal history, by positioning his ship to shield her pod.
Leader was the squad's sergeant and ground commander. He supervised MOX 16, rescued Rat from the hive and died when Shitkicker burned and electrocuted him during an attempt to stop the armor.
Point was the forward scout whose surveillance supported the investigation. He cared for Ears, fought his way to the nursery and shot Cotlow before a Xenomorph killed him.
Ears was a cyborg communications specialist linked to fifteen remote surveillance heads. He guided the squad, saved Rat by closing a disposal hatch and was killed after Point's death left him distraught.
Shitkicker was the human occupant of MOX 16, one of the experimental Mobile Offensive ExoWarriors. He destroyed the main Queen but continued on a destructive rampage that killed Leader and helped collapse the station's decks.
Dr. Piers Cotlow was TodLab's executive and a secret Xenomorph worshipper. He used synthetic royal jelly and drugs to maintain a Queen embryo inside himself, killed Richards and Jaffry, and escaped in a waste pod while gravely wounded.
Lieutenant Tsuruku Richards was an alien-life specialist investigating the hospital's experiments. He connected Cotlow to the earlier MatteiLab incident, identified the synthetic jelly and died when the doctor broke his neck.
Nurse Jaffry was a hospital staff member who mediated between Cotlow and the military. She discovered the doctor disposing of Richards's body and was killed near the nursery.

Editions

Dark Horse Comics originally published Aliens: Tribes as a hardcover illustrated novella in 1992, followed by a paperback edition in 1993. Bissette supplied the prose and Dorman the paintings and cover artwork. Its format differed from the publisher's conventional miniseries, with the written narrative carrying the complete story between the illustrations rather than distributing it across sequential panels.

Marvel reissued Tribes digitally in 2021 and collected it in Aliens: The Original Years Omnibus Volume 1 that year. It was also included in Aliens Epic Collection: The Original Years Volume 2, published on August 20, 2024. The latter collected Tribes alongside Genocide, Hive, Newt's Tale and shorter material. The 2021 digital edition retained the prose, painted illustrations, acknowledgments and Barbara Kesel's editorial credit.

A Limited Hardcover Edition followed in August 1992, with an embossed cover, slipcase and signed illustration page, restricted to one thousand copies. In Britain, the story was serialized in seven parts with Aliens magazine Volume 2, issues 10 through 16, from April to October 1993. Those releases presented the same novella in different physical formats rather than extending the TodLab operation with a sequel.

Behind The Scenes

Steve Bissette shared the 1992 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction for Aliens: Tribes with Joe R. Lansdale's The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance. The awards were presented in 1993. The recognition was for the written work, whose structure combined the perspectives of the extermination squad, Cotlow and the hive rather than relying on the paintings to supply missing narrative events.

The book's Twenty-Four Paintings were by Dave Dorman, who also provided its cover art. The acknowledgments credited people who helped him realize the characters, including Lurene Haines, Philip Burnett and Del Stone Jr., as well as artists who assisted with the project. Bissette thanked Rick Veitch, Neil Gaiman, Steve Perry and Phil Nutman among others. These credits accompanied the story in the digital reissue.

The MOX Berserker preceded the MAX armor featured in Aliens: Frenzy. Both stories used a specialist team, a captured bait carrier, a drug-controlled armored operator and a fail-safe intended to contain an infestation. Tribes identified Shitkicker as MOX 16 and gave that equipment its own specifications. It did not identify him as MAX 09 or make him the unnamed occupant later replaced by Brian Ellis.

Conclusion

Aliens: Tribes combined Steve Bissette's prose with Dave Dorman's paintings in a story about the attempted destruction of TodLab LXI. The squad killed the main Queen, but Cotlow's breeding program survived inside his own body. Rat and the doctor escaped in separate waste pods, leaving her survival dependent on rescue and the new Queen beyond the station's destroyed perimeter.