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Xenopedia

Lasalle Bionational, often shortened to Bionational and commonly referred to as Bionational Corporation, was a multinational conglomerate specializing in biological research and development.[1] Lasalle were notable for their successful studies of the species Xenomorph XX121, and the company was the source of much of the detailed information available regarding the creature's biology.[2]

History[]

Origins[]

Created during the late 2130s, by former Weyland-Yutani VP Brendan Lasalle, he quits the company citing "creative differences" but in reality, because of mass layoffs in the W-Y bioresearch and development division. He obtained start-up funds and assembled those laid off to create Lasalle Bionational. It wasn’t long before his company acquired a lucrative government contract to produce an inexpensive, radiation-resistant corn substitute. The company was controlled by the Lasalle family, handed from father to daughter. While there is a board of directors in place, the family controls a majority of shares, ensuring they cannot be ousted from their own corporation.[1]

Bio-arms Race and Change of Management[]

Lasalle Bionational is in a constant bio-arms race with Weyland-Yutani to secure bioweapons contracts with the USCMC and each is constantly the victim of corporate espionage and sabotage by the other. As Lasalle Bionational is not as well protected as W-Y, the UPP has placed spies within the Bionational administration with the intent of stealing their research for their own.[1]

After Brendan Lasalle's retirement from the CEO position, his daughter, Edina Lasalle, took over the company and decided to boost the company’s bioweapons department in order for Bionational to survive and has stepped up her father’s initial plans to sequence the genome of Xenomorph XX121. She also decided to look for someone with a particular set of skills to protect the company’s interests due to recent security breaches and deaths of prominent employees.[1]

The Cronus Incident[]

In 2183, Bionational put a synthetic undercover agent, codename Lucas, in the USCSS Montero,[3] to investigate why the Weyland-Yutani redirect the Montero to the USCSS Cronus a W-Y science ship missing for seventy-three years.[4] After investigating the Cronus and learn about the 26 Draconis Strain, his task was to prevent Weyland-Yutani to bring back on Earth any Xenomorphic material at any cost meaning kill everyone with knowledge of the 26 Draconis Strain and eventually destroying the ship.[5] One possibility is that Lucas fulfills his mission by triggering a reactor overload destroying the Cronus from the mainframe physically or uploading himself in if his physical body is destroyed.[6]

Competition with the United Americas and acquiring a Xenomorph[]

Bionational found out about an expedition set up by a Government agent named Waidslaw Orona to acquire a Xenomorph specimen. The company didn't want the government to interfere in the private sector of weapons manufacturing and set out to sabotage the mission. Two of the company's executives, Red and Green, sent out one of their "Executive Assistants of Security", Patrick Massey, to deal with the mission. The company also managed to get USCM Colonel H.S. Stephens on their payroll and to assist Massey in sabotaging the mission. Ultimately, Massey killed Stephens and sent most of the Marines and crew to the surface as food for the Xenomorphs before he himself was killed by a stowaway. The surviving Marines and crew ultimately failed in their mission.[7][8]

The company got its wish to acquire a Xenomorph specimen in early 2192 when one of its employees, Jim Likowaski, was impregnated by one of the creatures while doing his job. They kept Jim at their Huston Labs to study the effects on the host, and after the Xenomorph left its host it attacked the Project Leader with the assistant shooting and killing the scientist. The Xenomorph stayed in the dead scientist's body and eventually molted into a Queen after which the company moved her to their Lima Facility.[7][8]

Earth Outbreak[]

The Lima facility was later attacked by a group of cultists worshiping Xenomorphs lead by a man named Salvaje, who was a former employee for Bionational. Despite their best efforts, the facility security guards couldn't prevent several cultists to penetrate in the hive and being impregnated. The base self-destruct system was activated and many cultists were killed by the guards but some impregnated cultists managed to escape the base before the detonation, starting the Xenomorph infestation of the Earth. It is unknown if Bionational managed to survive the Earth War.[7][8]

Incident of Taurus 7[]

At some point, Bionational's colony on Taurus 7, which housed their Xenomorph cache, suffered an outbreak that decimates the entire population. A USCM group intervenes on site but it is unknown if they managed to handle the infestation.[9]

Divisions[]

Products[]

They are known for their radiation-resistant crops, bioengineered livestock that can be customized to a number of different environments and extrasolar pathogen vaccines. They also developed a blight virus that would destroy an enemy’s crops, securing their place in the market.[1]

Bio-Weapons Division[]

Perhaps among Lasalle's most notable successes are the work of its bio-weapons division, which has conducted extensive research into Xenomorph biology with notable success, thereby succeeding here countless others — such as rivals Weyland-Yutani — had failed, often with disastrous results. Thanks to this research, Lasalle has been the primary source of much of the more detailed information on Xenomorph physiology that is available.[2] Most of this research was carried out at a Hive they secretly bred on Taurus 7. Bionational also scatters science and security exploration teams all across the Frontier looking for ancient Engineer laboratories, traces of Chemical A0-3959X.91 – 15, and any other alien lifeforms, viruses, or mutagens, but still unsuccessful.[1]

Trivia[]

  • Initially, two apparently separate entities bore the name Bionational in the Alien franchise — Bionational Corporation (featured prominently in the comic Aliens: Outbreak) and Lasalle Bionational (mentioned in several articles in Aliens magazine). With the release of Alien: The Roleplaying Game, it was clarified that both organizations are in fact the same company, with "Bionational Corporation" merely being a common nickname.

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Andrew E.C. Gaska (writer). Alien: The Roleplaying Game (2019), Free League Publishing.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dave Hughes, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood. Aliens, Vol. 2 #11, p. 30 (1993), Dark Horse International.
  3. Andrew E. C. Gaska. Chariot of the Gods, p. 3 (2019), Free League Publishing.
  4. Andrew E. C. Gaska. Chariot of the Gods, p. 43 (2019), Free League Publishing.
  5. Andrew E. C. Gaska. Chariot of the Gods, p. 44 (2019), Free League Publishing.
  6. Andrew E. C. Gaska. Chariot of the Gods, p. 36 (2019), Free League Publishing.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Mark Verheiden. Aliens: Outbreak (1989), Dark Horse Comics.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Steve Perry. Aliens: Earth Hive (1992), Bantam Spectra. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Earth Hive" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Earth Hive" defined multiple times with different content
  9. Brian Keene. Aliens: Bug Hunt Empty Nest (2017), Titan Books.
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