

Indeed....
When Ridley first talked officially about a sequel he mentioned that they (Shaw and David) are off to planet of the Engineers, where they will meet some beings... but they will not be Gods, and they are not benevolent.
He also added that David is bringing Hell with him and what happens if the Cargo infects a God or a Machine.
So even with the changes in Alien Covenant, Shaw and David must have arrived prior to the Covenant and indeed on board a Engineer Juggernaught that has a Cargo.
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

It seemed to hint they would find some beings on Paradise or where ever David ended up taking the Ship.
The source who claimed they had some information on Green/Paglen Draft seemed to indicate such a thing too but that Shaws part would only be small and the whole David + Shaw on the Juggernaught and getting to Paradise to meet these Gods... is only ONE PLOT of 3 Plots and the other TWO are Larger Plots.... its hinted David or a David is also part of one of the other Plots... and the 3rd could well be a flash back in the past Plot.
Seems things may have changed somewhat now..
But the Covenant do eventually only find David maybe at first... and we cant be sure if there are any Engineers left at this time.... or was there any when David Arrived?
Or has this Plot element been changed?
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

Pretty funny.
Eh, yeah what BD said.
Well, yeah they're driving a bus-load of cosmic Round-Up back to Engineer World.
Kinda like the coyote in the old road-runner cartoons, when his gadget or whatever comes back to him and blows up in his face.
Karma is a bitch.

@OP
BD and I have had extensive exchanges about how the Paglen/Green P: Pandemonium vision has "morphed" into the Logan A: Covenant vision.
I believe, and I think BD does, that the three plot strands are there but their "weighting" in the narrative has changed. I think the Incomers story "Covenant" has grown and the Engineers story (the flashback) has receded.
Given we are arriving in a fallen world where hell has passed through I think David is bringing "stuff" but it will be pointed at the Covenant crew and over the ten years it will have "grown". When he was bringing hell, he was bringing multiple Davids, which we know from the Sydney press conference is one plus a doppleganger.
Note
There is a chance that David is responsible for the fall of the Engineer Society and I think he was bringing hell in a more general sense in early scripts but that places him in the role of judge of Paradise Lost which doesn't sit right somehow to me. He could play Lucifer in their fall but then he survives the hierarchy's retribution and none of this seems to aid the why who and how the Zeno story. Put simply there is an awful lot of back story to tell if David is playing Lucifer inveigles the Engineers in to their fate evades destruction and is out tramping round Paradise when the Coventee's turn up and to what end does that serve the overarching themes. To learn of the Engineers philosophical fall and see the consequences of that feels much more emphatic and supportive of the other elements.
That judgement and retribution I feel has come from elsewhere.
Another very interesting aside from Ridley since the A C script was locked. He describes the Engineers as superiors to mankind they seem to have moved from quasi gods as an antagonists to merely a more advanced superior species, that plays in to two things :-
1) The sense that we are echoing there mistakes and following in their wrong footsteps.
2) If they clearly aren't God then who is - cue the next layer.

@MJ
Well, you use the term "gardeners", so there you are!
Yeah I think you and BD have got this thing, but like you said, it did change a bit.
As to David being the Croissant Express of Doom. I can see your point, in that their gods should be the ones that destroy them for their mis-deeds, however, I also see it as fitting that the creation of their creation does the deed.
That is payback for not only killing his boss and mentor, but the rest of the crew, not to mention attempted murder on the rest of humanity.
But alas, he has his own agenda. Even though he did us a solid here, he does not have our best interests at "heart" or circulation pump as the case may be.
I think was he does to the Covenant crew will be mean and nasty. He wants to be top dog in this fight.
And that's something a lot of folks don't understand. Conflict. It's been a part of our very nature for a long time, and yet some folks, perhaps represented by Shaw here, think they can just wish it away.
I bet she had a Volvo with "visualize world peace" on it.
But back on topic, yes, we are our father's children, violent nature and all. And yes, the next layer.

@Diz
I think there is a good deal of built up drama in the relationship between David and the Engineers.
As one of them ripped his head off he may have quite a few issues with them and come to Paradise "empowered" with elements of their own technology ready for a fight but thats the point would he. He is very passive/aggressive and seduction of the Engineers to destroy them, a kind of trojan horse, would be more in his line. But forgive me for repeating myself thats an awful lot of back story to pack in rather than Daniels asking what happened here and David crunching out those knowing one liners in is usual artful enigmatic way.
If I am right then Janek's conjecture is wrong and unless Paradise is in a Galaxy Far Far Away its implausible that they were playing happy sacrifices for 2,000 years after team LV223 bought it. Isn't Janek's assumption part of Shaw's that Paradise = Good.
David knows about Paradise he knows how to find it, in which case the Engineers on Paradise are familiar with LV223 and yet if they are good Engineers before the fall would not they have arranged quarantine and a warning beacon as the SJ did. No they had their own problems to deal with at the same time is my view.

@Ati
Its assumption based on Ridley saying they are bringing hell. However that is a comment which belongs to the early scripts.
If you recall David offers to take the Juggernaut to Earth and Elizabeth says no I want to go where they come from. It is exceptionally unlikely she would have agreed to take a payload to Earth and probably just as likely she would not one on board for fear of David's tricks and the obviously appalling dangers it carries.
Your answer is I think entirely plausible, given the characters and their relative positions with David at a temporary disadvantage.
I have made the point already but the back story needs to be rich in philosophical content with clues both visual and one liners but highly complicated descriptive narrative would seem unlikely and an empty vessel makes sense thanks for that.
That isn't to say that the Black Goo isn't wound into Davids big idea. After all they will have to adapt a cryo chamber for Elizabeth before leaving so a certain amount of know how is on board without a full payload. The journey to Paradise and how its presented is one of the exciting missing links of the puzzle for me.
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