Hicks was part of Second Squad's gun team, along with Private Drake, and was also the squad's leader and Motion Tracker operator. When the unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Gorman, was incapacitated, Hicks took overall charge of the mission as the ranking Marine. He was the only Marine to survive the incident, alongside two civilians, Ellen Ripley and Rebecca Jorden, and the USCM android Lance Bishop, who was badly damaged. He was later captured by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and taken back to LV-426 where he was tortured for information regarding the mission to Hadley's Hope and the Xenomorphs, but was eventually freed by Marines from the USS Sephora.