- "We Aim By P.F.M."
- —Decal Slogan[src]
The Smart Ass' decal
The Smart Ass was a UD-4L Cheyenne Dropship aboard the USS Sulaco, designated Corporal Ferro's backup craft. It was the ship used to rescue the survivors of the Hadley's Hope Xenomorph infestation on LV-426 in 2179.
As a backup, Smart Ass was not used during the initial operation to Hadley's Hope and remained aboard the Sulaco. It was later readied and flown to the moon's surface remotely by Bishop using the colony's transmitter, and was used by the survivors to escape the planet.
History[]
Rescue from LV-426[]
With the Marines' primary dropship Bug Stomper destroyed, Smart Ass became the survivors' best chance of escape; however, the transmitter that would normally be used to remotely pilot the ship to the planet's surface had been destroyed in the first dropship's crash. As a result, Bishop had to travel alone to the outside transmitter at the Hadley's Hope colony and patch in suitable hardware to remotely prepare and pilot the vessel.
Once Smart Ass was on the ground, Bishop took to the controls for Ripley's mission to rescue Newt from the colony's Atmosphere Processor, setting down on a landing platform within the structure and waiting for her to return. However, the rapidly overloading reactor soon led the processor to begin exploding all around him, and as the platform became unstable, Bishop was forced to take off. He returned just in time to pick up Ripley and Newt, saving them from the vengeful Xenomorph Queen, and despite colliding with the landing pad he managed to escape the structure and the blast radius before the Atmosphere Processor exploded.
Upon returning to the Sulaco, the survivors soon found that the Queen had in fact stowed away within Smart Ass's landing gear, climbing aboard when the dropship had struck the landing pad inside the Atmosphere Processor. After tearing Bishop in half, the Queen engaged Ripley in a Power Loader, but was ultimately defeated and ejected into space.
Destruction[]
Although it survived the mission on LV-426, Smart Ass was destroyed during the events of the USS Sephora's mission to Acheron 17 weeks later. The dropship was caught in the blast of an errant hand grenade thrown by Keyes as several Sephora Marines battled a group of Xenomorphs in the Sulaco's hangar bay, heavily damaging it and setting it alight. While it is possible the vessel may have been repairable, it was subsequently destroyed completely when the Sulaco broke up in orbit after sustaining heavy combat damage during a confrontation with the Sephora.