Multiple official Aliens books will be referenced throughout this character background. I will be providing general context that will not contain spoilers. I will be ensuring to include book titles and authors. I use Audible for all my literature.
In the official franchise book “Alien: Covenant Origins” by Alan Dean Foster (the audiobook narration by Tom Taylorson is kick-ass) there are multiple references about corporate warfare. Especially raids conducted against anti-corporate groups. I will avoid writing more to avoid spoilers. Jericho “Steel” Skirata is a character inspired by general background infantry characters from the end of this book. A corporate soldier sent into danger to secure the protection of corporate property.
A Godblessed American and proud employee of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Jericho “Steel” Skirata has served in the corporate security sector longer than the United States Marine Corp. His service started in Weyland-Yutani Security Forces and then transferred to join the United States Marine Corp. This was to receive additional training and experience for serving the company’s security forces.
His whole life has belonged to Weyland-Yutani, having grown up in their corporate centers his entire life. He states to be a proud American citizen and hater of Communism, as the United States still contains the largest number of billionaires per capita. Jericho Skirata’s active disgust for the concept of Communism comes from his “American freedom” and he “willingly” became a corporate soldier and marine. He was not at all in anyway forced to fight for his paycheck at any point, and is legally obligated to state this when questioned. To him, the paycheck is his freedom. You can only be free in the United States if you have enough money. The overthrowing of capitalism directly threatens his entire life back home and his whole future. He takes it very personally.
During humanity’s process of setting up exploration, mining, and colonization, there were corporate wars. Back home and out in space, corporate warfare has appeared on and off. Jericho Skirata was a youth living in an American corporate mega complexes, growing up under the surveillance of mega corporations. Straight out of high school he was scouted and hired into corporate security just in time for another corporate war. Fighting in quick raids, Jericho Skirata was a no named grunt. A young body for the front lines of an ever more expensive human civil war.
Easily influenced into his bloody service in an effort to not be trapped in a wage slave cubical and forced into a paycheck that will never meet basic living standards. He has been obligated by his old corporate military contracts to never acknowledge his undying service under penalty of DNA scrubbing and vaporization. Weyland-Yutani legally owns his human rights and access to his DNA cloning rights. A strong will to please Weyland-Yutani, Jericho Skirata will go out of his way to aid corporate liaisons and other Weyland-Yutani corporate staff. Especially willing to place his life in danger to please the company. Any [REDACTED] or medical personnel can observe that Jericho Skirata is an average flesh and blood human and displays no genetic defects.
Jericho Skirata’s body is heavily decorated in tattoos of the Weyland-Yutani corporation security and military service. Many of his tattoos are insignias of multiple corporate engagements, referenced in the end of “Alien: Covenant Origins” and “Aliens: Bug Hunt.” (Bug Hunt is a collection of short stories written by multiple authors and narrated by multiple narrators, edited by Jonathan Maberry. IT IS LITERALLY CM. Great listen.)
After joining the UMSC, Jericho Skirata bounced around positions and unwanted promotions, initially struggling to find his place in the organization. When he wasn’t in a state of adrenaline rushed motion, he was self-reflective to a fault. Clad in tattoos to an organization he no longer fully works for, Jericho Skirata was a shill to corporate liaisons and Weyland-Yutani Security personnel. An organization he had spent his entire young adulthood inside of and had bled for many times. During service in the USMC, Jericho Skirata had experienced the consequences from a lack of combat technicians many times. A pragmatic cold corporate soul, Jericho Skirata would soon gain the nick name “Steel” from his service as a Combat Technician.
During service, Jericho Skirata would abandon his corporate understanding of war. Slowly adding to his resume of warfare, his service as a Combat Technician in the marines would give him a renewed feeling of purpose. A proud Fobbit (an enthusiastic individual tasked with the fortification and defense of a Foward Operating Base, known as FOB) Steel would go on to achieve high praise from his peers for his work.
A frequent ball buster during unwanted battlefield promotions, Steel has grown obsessive with defending the primary landing zone. Often lamenting about servicing more complicated devices such as Synths and electronics, Steel has shown a significant interest in the repair, maintenance, and creation of defensive lines. Commonly making puns about his nickname and his metal work. Many members of the Requisitions Office and general naval crew report demanding calls for increasingly excessive amounts of metal and plasteel over phone, radio, and in person visits.
Notable accomplishments during USMC service:
New Varadero Battle Report:
Awarded a Gold Medal for service as a Lance Corporal Combat Technician and a Purple Heart
During the defense of the primary landing zone against XX-121 [REDACTED], a Queen [REDACTED] and Ravager [REDACTED] punctured hole in a barricade defense line. Mortar incendiaries were fired on the position, preventing a breach in the vulnerable defense line within viewing distance of the shuttle’s landing zone. LCpl Skirata was witnessed, by multiple marine enlisted and officers, jumping into a pool of ignited napalm to seal the gap. There was a rush by [REDACTED] to halt this, LCpl Skirata sustained additional wounds in this flaming melee. However, his position was successfully secured while falling unconscious, his last moment an the attempt to apply barbed wire to the new barricade. He was recovered instantly by nearby marines and the FOB was successfully held for a clean extraction. Archivist Note: Lance Corporal Skirata was congratulated by nearby marine enlisted and officers as having “balls of steel”, adopting it as his new nickname.