Zeta Reticuli (Earth-7149)

"I found it, just short of Zeta Reticuli. We haven't reached the outer colonies yet."

- - Joan Lambert

Zeta Reticuli, also known as Zeta Ret, ζ Reticuli, ζ Ret, and Zeta2 Reticuli, is a wide binary star system in the constellation Reticulum. It is located approximately 39 light-years (12 parsecs) from Earth and the Sol system. It is home to the gas giant Calpamos and its moons, which include LV-426 and LV-223. Zeta Reticuli holds the historical precedence for being the site of the first documented contact between humanity and the xenomorphs

Prehistory
100,000 years in the past, a ship belonging to a member of an unknown species crash-landed on LV-426, holding multiple xenomorph Ovomorphs for unknown reasons. The pilot died, apparently impregnated by a Facehugger, but not before sending a warning message for any sapient explorator to not approach the ship.

Human meddling
The system was discovered by humans in 1859, and cataloged in the Durchmusterung, at 39 light-years away from Earth. Despite this, it was not colonized by the UEG during Domus Diaspora duo to its inhospitality.

On June 16th, 2528, the commercial freighter USCSS Nostromo arrived on the system and landed on Acheron after the ship's artificial intelligence, Mother, acquired the emergency signal set by the mysterious ship, following their return from the Outer colony Thedus. Despite the fact the ship's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was damaging during the landing, Captain Arthur Dallas, First Officer Thomas Kane, and navigator Joan Lambert formed a trio to explore Acheron's surface, eventually discovering the derelict and the signal coming from it. While they explored the ship, the trio discovered the fossilized remains of the ship's pilot and the many Ovomorphs that were stored on the ship for reasons unknown. Once Kane approached them, he was attacked and impregnated by a Facehugger. Dallas and Lambert then took Kane back to the Nostromo, which departed from the moon. Hours later, the xenomorph that had been incubated on Kane birthed aboard the ship, leading to the massacre of the crew and the destruction of the vessel.

Despite the tragedy and failure of the Nostromo expedition, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation became obsessed with the xenomorphs and carried on their attempt to capture specimens from the Acheron. On June 2560, Aegis VII explorers and spacers Russ and Anne Jorden were hired by ONI as expendable fodder to explore Acheron and bring Ovomorphs to one of their facilities on Paraíso. The resulting expedition led to the couple being attacked and impregnated by Facehuggers upon their arrival on the colony, leading to a massive outbreak that had to be put down one month later by the United States Colonial Marine Corps; most of the colonists and Marines died during the assignment.

Trivia

 * Zeta Reticuli on Wikipedia.