Newt

Real name: Rebecca Jorden
Newt was the only survivor of the colony on Archeron, Hadley's Hope. She survived the alien attacks by moving through airducts too narrow for the aliens to follow her. Airduct hide-and-seek was a local game amongst the kids and Newt was the champion of the game.
Newt went through a major trauma when her mother, father and brother plus all of the others were slaughtered and when the marines and Ripley shows up, she reacts with fear. Newt probably thought that many people would lure the aliens to them and it would not be safe to be around them. She tries to flee, but Ripley manages just to grab her and force Newt with her.
Traumatized, Newt doesn´t talk in the beginning, but Ripley gains the trust of Newt, which tells her that they all were going to die, like her family and that she would be safer in the airducts. Ripley don't let her go. She cleans Newt up and gives her new, clean clothes and the tracking device given to Ripley by Hicks. But months under siege by the aliens makes Newt feel far more safe under the bed, not in it. Ripley comes into Newts sleeping quarters later and crawls under the bed to Newt.
Burke wanted to use Newt and Ripley as living hosts to get alien embyros through customs and lets a facehugger into the room and closes the door. Ripley wakes up before it's too late, but Burke had locked the door from outside and it is impossible to break the glass...
Ripley places herself in front of the hugger, not letting it get near Newt. It is fast, but when it attacks Newt, she proves that she is not helpless and squeezes it between the wall and a table. Ripley and Newt is saved just in time and Burke is chased away.
When the aliens attack the small group of remaining marines in the lab, Ripley bings Newt, trying to protect her. But when they are running from the aliens through the airduct, it is Newt showing Ripley and Hicks the way. When Gorman and Vasquez blows themselves up, it creates a shock-wave that pushes Newt out of balance and she slides down a shaft. Ripley and Hicks runs after Newt and finds her under a grid, standing waste-high in water. They try to cut through the metal bars, but before they manage to save Newt, she is caught by an alien and taken to the nest where she is 'slimed down' in front of an egg. It opens up and a hugger crawls out. Newt can't get out of this by herself. She is at the last minute saved by Ripley, they encounter the queen and gets to the landingarea and on board the rescueship at the last moment before everything blows up. Just when everyone thought they were safe on board the Sulaco, the Queen attacks. Newt does the only thing she knows - she dives down under the metal grid. The Queen is far stronger than the other aliens and almost gets a hold of her several times, but Newt is quick. Ripley fights the Queen and saves the day. When they are to go to sleep in the cryotubes, it is another Newt than the small, scared girl we encountered first. She is calm, clean and smiles. Now she finally can sleep without fear.

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