Update: Answered in the comments much more thoroughly and succinctly than I can summarize, so head below for some great answers.

She’s apparently the warrant officer, which I’ve seen hypothetical explanations state is the XO, the second in command, but she explicitly states that she is the third officer at the end of the movie, and throughout The movie she is the pilot and she checks the electrician’s work and volunteers to go fight the alien first, and also states that she is in command while the others were off the ship.

So was Kane second in command?

And what is a warrant officer?

Thank you

BTW if there is a crazy Aliens expert, I have a few tiny questions that only a crazy fan who literally read everything ever written and watched every interview about the movie might be able to answer.

  • BougieBirdieEnglish
    2·
    7 months ago

    It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but Warrant Officer is a rank used in several different armed forces. It’s exact position varies, but you can think of them as either the highest rank grunt or the lowest rank officer.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      Thanks. I was wondering what the role of the warrant officer was in real armed forces. I guess that makes sense then, because we have the captain and then the EXO. Thomas Kane and then Ripley.

      That seemed like a lot of management for such a small crew, but I guess that was it.