Zetan aliens

Zetans  are an extraterrestrial humanoid species.

Background
The origins of the zetan aliens is largely unknown, but throughout much of human history, the zetans have abducted and collected humans, their creations, and other creatures from Earth for study, cryogenic preservation, and experimentation. At some unknown point, the zetans arrived to Earth from an unknown star system on at least two known motherships to study the Earth, one known as "Zeta" and another unnamed one.

Chronologically, the earliest known abductee is a Japanese samurai of the Oda clan from the late 1500s, and it is unknown if the zetans were present on Earth before this point. Regardless, since at least that point in time, they have continuously abducted humans and other creatures from Earth, and also collected their technology. In 1697, the zetans abducted a villager from Salem Village, Massachusetts. In the mid-to-late 1800s "Wild West" period in the United States, they abducted a cowboy from Texas. The zetans continued to abduct countless individuals from across the Earth, especially in the United States.

Despite the length of their study, zetans remained unknown to humanity at large for the vast majority of their visitation. It was not until the abduction of Colonel Hartigan and the Clarabella 7 capsule during the 1960s Space Race, that their influence became felt by modern society, with groups such as Quaere Verum formed to reveal the truth about them, though Quaere Verum was widely regarded to be a crackpot conspiracy group by the public. Quaere Verum attempted to use the MPLX Novasurge, a prototype plasma pistol somehow recovered by the group from the government, as proof that the U.S. government had been using alien technology, though the weapon was later recovered by the zetans themselves, while the group itself was eradicated by the federal government for their role in stealing the weapon. At this point, it was believed by many that the U.S. government (and by extension, the Enclave) had based much of their technology off of alien technology.

Even corporations such as Wilson Automatoys were accused of using alien technology. Likewise, the Nuka-Galaxy section of the theme park Nuka-World, owned by the Nuka-Cola Corporation and constructed in 2072, also featured animatronics (constructed by RobCo) bearing an identical resemblance to the zetans wielding their signature alien blasters. Everyday citizens also had some awareness of the zetans, given that some comics featured images of the zetans on their covers, and mentioned them by name.

Meanwhile, in late pre-War West Virginia, the zetans operated through a network of zetan agents who captured individuals in the wilderness around the town of Flatwoods for experimentation. One such person was the Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Vault-Tec, who was inspecting the construction of Vault 76 sometime between 2064 and 2069. These alien agents were often spotted and reported upon by Flatwoods locals (some of which claimed to be abducted), though local law enforcement did not take the sightings seriously. The zetan agents were dubbed the "Flatwoods Monster" by the locals and the media. These zetan agents continued to operate in Appalachia at least up until 20 years after the Great War. The Enclave also maintained a research facility in Appalachia where they apparently held three zetan bodies and studied them.

In other places across the pre-War United States, up until shortly before the Great War, the zetans continued to abduct humans. In 2041, they abducted the Professor of Anthropological Archaeology at Banfield College, Humboldt, Oregon. Other known abductees included a U.S.S.A. linguistics specialist, a U.S. Senator, and someone within the White House who knew the codes needed to launch the entirety of the U.S.'s then-currently-armed ICBM nuclear weapons. During the Reclamation of Anchorage, Alaska (as part of the Resource Wars), somewhere between 2066 and 2077, numerous U.S. Army personnel were abducted from Alaska by the zetans, including a U.S. Army Combat Medic and his entire unit.

It is unknown how the zetans responded to the Great War, or to what extent they played a part, but they eventually adapted to it. They soon began abducting, and then studying and experimenting on the new creatures from across the American wastelands (especially from the Capital Wasteland), including super mutants, feral ghouls, brahmin, and others. They also abducted members of the new groups of people formed after the War, including raiders and slavers. The "Flatwoods Monsters" continued to operate in Appalachia for some time as well. Other groups across the wastelands seem to have had some awareness of (and some level of contact with) the zetans, because as of 2277 in the Capital Wasteland, the Brotherhood of Steel, Brotherhood Outcasts, and the Enclave had alien power cells in their respective armories.

Sometime around 2277, the Lone Wanderer encountered an alien signal that led them to a downed zetan recon craft known as Theta. On approach, he was abducted via a tractor beam onto Zeta. From there, he was experimented on and then placed in a containment cell, where he teamed up with several other abductees, including the aforementioned slaver, combat medic, samurai, and cowboy, as well as a young pre-War girl, in order to take over the ship and find a way back to Earth. The crew fought their way through Zeta, destroying its generators (and therefore crippling it) and then fighting all the way to the zetan captain's cabin. After slaying the captain, the crew took control of the ship and engaged in a final showdown with the other unnamed mothership. After destroying the other mothership, the crew went their separate ways, with the combat medic and young girl staying aboard the ship, and the rest leaving back to Earth. The status of the zetans after this event is unknown, though as of 2287, a zetan alien was spotted crash landing a recon craft in the Commonwealth by the Sole Survivor.

Biology
Zetans are diminutive, hairless, yellowish-green-skinned humanoids with short, wiry limbs and green blood. Their heads are disproportionately large, with round, heavy-lidded, solid black eyeballs with no discernible iris or pupil; a thin, toothless mouth with green tongue, and two pairs of small holes where ears and nostrils would be. Aliens have no opposable thumbs, each hand having three long, tentacle-like fingers with large suction cups at each fingertip that allow them to manipulate objects. They breathe a similar atmosphere to humans, and (at least those on Mothership Zeta) subsist mainly on a diet of strange alien worms and squid.

Organization
The zetans seem to have a strict society focused on work and progress, with no apparent concern for hobbies and personal pursuits. Their architecture is spartan and purely functional; for instance, their beds (called stasis chambers) are sterile metal capsules with no mattress, blankets, sheets or other pieces of bedclothes typically found in a normal human bed, and no discernible means of entertainment can be seen aboard Zeta. However, the aliens, in their own right, appear to have some degree of emotion since alien workers display obvious fear when confronted with armed assailants. In another case, the aliens are shown to have a fascination with Giddyup Buttercup, as demonstrated in a captive recorded log onboard Zeta, of Sally being taken to the recording room and noticing a Giddyup Buttercup. She notes that upon her calling attention to it, the aliens become very excited, though she has no idea why they act this way.

They view other species as laboratory animals, worthy of preservation and storage at best and vivisection and experimentation at worst. They speak in their own language of high-pitched screeches and wails. As such, verbal communication between humans and aliens is impossible. This isn't helped by the fact that, barring recording some brief biographical information, the aliens simply aren't interested in discussion.

They are incredibly advanced in their variegated technological fields, capable of spaceflight and technological feats equal to but often beyond that of even the most advanced human pre-War technology. They also possess technical faculties such as long-term cryostasis, powerful rayguns, genetic engineering, teleportation and holograms. However, they are totally dependent on technology and are physically limited by their extreme use of it. Because of this, they are physically fragile, lacking in raw strength, are ineffectual in melee-based combat and don't possess especially protective armor and clothing.

Aliens typically wear spacesuits, the color of the suit apparently indicating rank, and soldiers generally carry shock batons, disintegrators and atomizers. They prefer to attack their foes in large numbers and tend to have guardian drones with them.

Military
Due to their frail bodies, the zetans aboard Zeta generally rely on guardian drones to do most of their fighting. However, certain zetans will utilize personal shields and rifles, indicating that there are combat-ready members among their ranks. The most powerful known weapon in their arsenal is the death ray underneath their ship.

Aliens typically wear spacesuits, the color of the suit apparently indicating rank, and soldiers generally carry shock batons, disintegrators and atomizers. They prefer to attack their foes in large numbers and tend to have guardian drones with them.

Teleportation


Similar to the the Institute's Molecular Relay, the crew of Mothership Zeta possess a series of teleporters known as a teleportation matrix. They allow access between areas of the ship, as well as to and from beacons that can be deployed to the surfaces of planets.

Cryoscience
Zetans possess an advanced understanding of cryostasis, to the point they maintain a specialized cryo lab aboard Zeta dedicated to keeping their various abducted subjects stored between experimentation and interviews. This storage was seemingly capable of keeping its subjects alive healthily for centuries, though it was not without risk. Under certain conditions, it can lead to the subject expiring upon being thawed. Colonel Hartigan became a victim of such conditions upon being thawed by the Lone Wanderer.

Holography


Zetans utilize holographic technology, similar to both Big MT and National Electric.

Robots and computers

 * Experimental weapons drone - experimental security robot armed with a drone cannon Ex-B
 * Guardian drone - security robot armed with a drone cannon.
 * Support drone - maintenance robot.

Vehicles

 * Flying saucer - small ship with a saucer-shaped body used for fast operations that house two pilots. The only known flying saucer is the one that crashed in California.
 * Mothership - large ship dedicated to long-term space travel and study species. It's generally located in space. It houses an entire crew of aliens and is commanded by a captain. The overall shape of the ship resembles a colossal saucer with another small disc-shaped section attached to the bottom. Known motherships are Zeta and the unnamed mothership comes right after the Zeta bridge is captured by the Lone Wanderer.
 * Recon craft - small ship with a disc-shaped rear body used for stealth operations that house only one pilot. Known recon craft are Theta, another unnamed craft that exploded in mid-air in the Firelance event, and another unnamed craft hovering in the Mojave Wasteland if Wild Wasteland is taken.
 * Unnamed Spacecraft - A small, single pilot ship is found at the UFO crash site within The Commonwealth between Beantown Brewery and Vault 81. The pilot survives the crash and relocates to a nearby cave.

Medical



 * Abominations - biological weapons created from humans with aliens DNA.
 * Alien biogel - ingestible curative gelatin-like liquid and accelerate organic tissue's regeneration processes gel.
 * Healing archway - care generator restoring health, removing all radiation, clearing any drug addiction and restoring crippled limbs.

Food

 * Alien squid food - A strange squid-like creature with long-term conservation.
 * Alien worm food - A strange worm-like creature with long-term conservation.

Device

 * Alien epoxy - Advanced liquid repairing agent.
 * Alien homing beacon - Beacon teleportation sent by a mothership to return quickly.
 * Drone control device - Remote control for alien drones.
 * Force field generator - Portable forcefield used for protective cover or blocking a passage.
 * Inertia suppression field - Personal protection shield technology.

Miscellaneous

 * See alien items

Appearances
Zetan aliens appear in Fallout 3, its add-on Mothership Zeta, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.