Roughnecks: Starship Trooper Chronicles
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intended

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This page was last updated on 02/20/01.

Pluto Campaign: Day 1 (Welcome to Pluto)
01/15/2000
SICON Official: "Troopers of the Valley Forge. We
must meet this threat with courage and strength secure in the knowledge that we
will emerge victorious in the mane of the Strategically Integrated Coalition of
Nations." (SICON)
Robert 'Paperboy' Higgins (re: SICON): "Hey, at least the
bugs brought the world together, right?"
Higgins: "I was trained to be a reporter, not a
fighter."
Lieutenant Gene Razak (addressing the troops): "Bugs can smell human blood
from a kilometer away. Through skin -- through suits -- through steel.
They feel no pain and have no emotions. Their only desire is to kill
you. They are not life as we know it. Is that clear? -- You can't negotiate
with something that has no soul."
Isabel 'Dizzy' Flores (re: Razak): "It's not bad enough he
flunked me, now he's my commanding officer."
Doc LaCroix (re: Jenkins): "Special Ops -"
Jeff Gossard: "- psychic freaks."
Carl Jenkins: "Special Ops decided I had some 'talents'
they wanted developed."
Jenkins: "Welcome to Pluto -- where the temperature is a
brisk 398 degrees below zero."
Razak: "Flores, you're still making the same mistakes you
did as a student. Think first! Act second!"
Sergeant Francis Brutto: "I think we're clean."
Jenkins: "That's what your scanner said last time."
Brutto: "Hey -- misreads happen. Could have been -- magnetic
interference."
Jenkins: "Could have been operator error."
Razak: "Gossard -- coordinates."
Flores: "Coordinates? They're right here."
Higgins: "We're sitting ducks here. Why aren't we
retreating?"
Brutto: "No retreat, no surrender."
Doc: "Let's rain on their parade."
Johnny Rico: "Watching the war on T.V. is a whole lot
different than living it."
Razak (calling for evac): "... We have and
R-triple-D. ..."
Higgins: "R-triple-D? That - that's code?"
Brutto: "Yeah. Really deep doo-doo."
Razak: "The bugs were waiting. Planning."
Brutto: "Bugs go no brains."
Jenkins: "That doesn't mean they don't have some kind of intelligence --
somewhere."
Gossard: "Lieutenant, company's coming."
Razak: "Who?"
Gossard: "Indeterminate mobile mass -- family size."
[Large bug, identified as a Tanker in a later episode, rises from the ground]
Flores: "Basic training never mentioned those."
Razak: "We didn't know about those."
Doc (re: Tanker): "Bug's like a walnut. Can't crack
the shell."
Jenkins (re: Rico jumping on Tanker's back): "He's crazier
than you."
Flores: "I love that in a man."
Flores: "One for all and all for one...."
Brutto: "Lieutenant's insane."
Doc: "Hey, we're fighting giant bugs on freaking Pluto, man. We're
all insane."

Pluto Campaign: Day 4 (Scientific Group at McHenry Outpost)
01/18/2000
Higgins: "For every bug you see, there are ten more that
you don't."
Higgins: "... more than one million bugs covered Pluto,
versus 10,000 troopers. Vegas odds."
Fleet Commanding officer: "Rumors are for enlisted
men...."
Fleet Commanding officer (to Major Zander Barcalow and
Lieutenant Carmen Ibanez): "Your mission is to retrieve the scientific
group located at the McHenry Outpost on the north edge of quad 18."
Major Zander Barcalow: "Lesson number one: Being a fleet officer isn't
just about piloting a ship. It's also knowing when to keep your mouth
shut."
Barcalow: "Lesson number two: You rifle's more effective
with the safety off."
Flores: "Nothing like a bug hunt to get your juices
flowing."
Gossard: "So, what do you do to relax, Flores? Bungee jump without
the cord?"
Flores: "Hey, no guts, no glory."
Rico: "No brains."
Jenkins: "No kidding."
Flores (re: Barcalow and Ibanez): "Hey, the high school
football hero hanging with the prom queen? What are the odds?"
Barcalow: "... I think Fleet will respond to a distress
call from one of its premium pilots."
Razak (softly): "Premium horse's behind."
Flores (re: climbing a cliff to clear bugs for air support):
"Piece of cake."
Doc: "You can have my slice. On the other hand, what's life without a
few tiny challenges?"
Brutto: "Rico, that suit is worth more than you and your
freaky pal put together. Get focused or the damage is coming out of your
pay."
Rico: "Hmm, nothing form nothing leave nothing."
Brutto: "What was that?"
Rico: "Nothing!"
Razak: "You better check yourself from the neck up,
mister. ..."
Rico: "... Lives were at stake. I felt it was the right thing
to do."
Razak: "Ware is not about feelings, private! Bugs have
antennae! If your communication gave away our position, no one is coming
out of that compound alive."
Doc: "Radical reconstructive surgery is the only
option."
Gossard: "Leg's that bad?"
Doc: "Leg's fine. I was talking about your face."
Brutto: "You don't think, trooper. You follow
orders!"
Higgins: "That was the thing about a victory on
Pluto. No cheering. No ticker tape parades. Just on to the
next sector -- the next battle. There was always another battle."

Pluto Campaign: Day 9 (Capture of Baby Plasma Bug)
09/18/2000
Higgins: "To say that we were in trouble would be an
understatement."
Flores: "Anhhh! And the buzzer sounds. Final
score: Humans 30, Bugs 0."
Jenkins (to Rico): "You got to admit she's got a real knack for this."
[Upon being called back to base for new orders]
Brutto: "Tango and Charlie couldn't find snow in a blizzard without
backup."
Higgins: "On the other hand, an order is an order."
Jenkins: "When it's an Intel offensive -"
Rico: "- they take command."
Lieutenant Earl Walker (to Razak): "... I'm not interested in
finding ways to make the work easier for your men...."
Rico (to Brutto): "So, which one of the Lieutenant's
brilliant orders should we carry out first: hurry up or handle with
care?"
Gossard: "He forgot one: this end up."
Walker (to Brutto): "As far as SICON is concerned,
Sergeant, that bug is more valuable alive than you are."
Gossard (after Flores saves his life): "Diz, got a new
plan. I'm going to stay attached to you, 24-7."
Jenkins (re: Walker and Barcalow greeting each other):
"Takes one to know one."
Razak: "We're dropping this oversized tick right on top of
his pals."
Barcalow (to Razak): "Direct hit! Bravo Company wants
to kiss you, sir."
Razak (to Walker): "Tell H.Q. this was your idea, Lieutenant. They'll
give you a medal."

Pluto Campaign: Day 10 (Vector Squad Rescue)
12/16/1999
Razak: "Failure is not an option."
Rico: "When you fire a weapon, there's only tow things to
remember: exhale and squeeze."
Rico: "It didn't seem right to blame a guy for some
higher-up's decision."
"Finally, back to fighting bugs that crawl."
Higgins: "I think I'm beginning to like this soldier
stuff."

Operation: Clean Sweep
12/16/1999
Jenkins: "I read minds, not alter them."
Higgins: "... what's the difference?"
Razak (to Flores): "... by not revealing your phobia, you
put this entire squad at risk."
Flores: "What's it like inside my head?"
Jenkins: "Scary."

Hydora: Egg Hunt (Rippler Nest, Behind Enemy
Lines)
01/18/2000
Higgins: "'Behind enemy lines.' Three words no
trooper wants to hear."
Higgins: "... that's the trouble with being good at your
job. When the going gets tough, the tough do all the heavy lifting."
Higgins: "We were now fighting a new, more lethal, kind of
Rippler. It's barbs carried a corrosive venom. ... Now, we
were going on an egg hunt."
Brutto: "When I want a crystal ball, Jenkins, I'll call for
a gypsy."
Rico (after Jenkins was hit with a Rippler barb): "A little
green there, buddy."
Jenkins: "If you can't think of something nice to say -"
Doc (after being dragged around by a Rippler and falling through
a waterfall into a Rippler nest): "... that was some wild ride."
Brutto (after the vehicles were wrecked from the Ripplers and
the waterfall): "Vehicles are history."
Doc: "But the water's fine."
Gossard: "... Rippler eggs, sunny side up. ...
Looks like momma Rippler's been very busy."
Razak: "... See how many of these grade A's we're dealing with.
..."
Gossard: "Millions of them. We're right in the middle of a
nest."
Doc: "I hate over-protective mothers."
Razak: "Scramble them."
Razak: "Bugs want a population explosion. Let's give
it to them."
Razak: "Let's blow this Popsicle stand."
Razak: "Rippler nest in quadrant bravo niner has been
eliminated."
Higgins: "... the war was kind of like fighting ants at a
picnic. No matter how many you get rid of, even more keep showing
up. In this numbers game, we always seem to end up on the wrong side of
the equation."

Hydora Campaign: Week 5
12/30/1999
Higgins: "... SICON agreed to give the squad twenty-four
hours of R&R aboard the Valley Forge. Just enough time to remind you
of all the stuff you've been missing ... and make you miss it even more."
[After Alpha squad rescues Echo squad, Tango squad and Flores
from a Rippler hive]
"Sounds like our pals found out we raided the fridge."
Flores (in response to Rico's acting too motherly after Flores
was rescued from a Rippler hive): "Rico, when we get back to the Valley
Forge, do me a big favor. ... Go back to being a jerk. I like
you better that way."

Hydora Campaign: Month 4 (Brain Bug)
01/04/2000
Higgins: "After four months on Hydora, there was one thing
every roughneck agreed upon: if we never, ever saw a beach again, it would
be too soon."
Razak: "Why don't you tell me what you do remember."
Ross: "I'm Lieutenant Ted Ross -- Delta Squad."
Doctor: "Physically, the Lieutenant's injuries are
minor. But psychologically, Lieutenant Ross appears to be suffering from a
sever case of post-dramatic stress syndrome. His long-term memory is
completely wiped out."
Rico: "You going to eat that or just beat it into
submission?"
Jenkins: "Oh, I - I'm not hungry."
Rico: "Carl, I've known you since we were five. You're a garbage
disposal with legs. What gives?"
Jenkins: "That Lieutenant. They're going to want me to figure out
what happened."
Rico: "So? You do that psychic act of yours all the time."
Jenkins: "This is a bigger deal -- going inside somebody's head searching
for trapped memories."
Flores: "What if he doesn't want to remember?"
Jenkins: "He won't have a choice."
Rico: "Yeah, well if something ever happens to me, just remember the sign
hanging on my brain -- 'no trespassing.'"
Flores: "Are you sure that sign doesn't say 'no occupancy?'"
Rico: "There's something else, isn't there?"
Jenkins: "I'm afraid that, if I go too deep, I might not be able to get
out."
Jenkins: "... pushing too hard could cause permanent
damage."
Razak: "Jenkins, if my squad was missing, I'd want any
means taken to find them."
Jenkins: "Commander, if I don't get down to that planet
now, SICONs going to lose another squad, my squad."
[Closed Captioning translated the following quote]
Warrior bugs (chanting): "Suck his brain!"
Jenkins (to Brain bug): "You think we're just going to land
over the universe to scum like you?"
[Jenkins destroys the Brain bug with his mind]
Higgins: "What's happening?"
Razak: "That thing must've been in charge of them. Without it,
there's chaos."
Jenkins: "You blow up a Brain bug, everybody want an
interview."
Flores: "... with that Brain bug gone, beating the bugs
should be a total piece of cake."
Jenkins: "That Brain bug wasn't an only child. That's the message it
sent me. It wanted me to know. The Brain bugs are everywhere,
controlling planets all over the galaxy and they're not going to stop until
they've achieved total domination."
Jenkins: "I know you're not a big fan of what I can
do...."
Rico: "... sometimes you scare me."
Jenkins: "Sometimes I scare me too."

Tophet Campaign: Day 19
09/18/2000
Higgins: "Day 19. A momentary lull in the battle against the bugs
and the 'skinnies' for control of Tophet. Both had turned out to be a lot
tougher than SICON anticipated. Troopers were trained to be fearless but
the truth was that every trooper feared something. Maybe
it was staring into the cold, black eyes of an attacking bug or being crushed
inside a power suit by a 'skinny' constrictor blast. For one trooper, it
was the quiet."
Razak: "First things first and squashing bugs always comes first."
Higgins: "Dispatch number 137-b. This is FedNet correspondent
Robert Higgins reporting. As I continue to cover the war from the front
lines, I find myself on Tophet, a torrid planet in the binary system of Raynares
Seven. The enemy were well dug in when I dropped to the surface with the
first M.I. troops, Razak's Roughnecks: Sergeant Brutto, Doc LaCroix,
'Dizzy' Flores, Jeff Gossard, Johnny Rico, Carl Jenkins and, of course, the
subject of this piece, Lieutenant Gene Razak."
Razak: "Higgins! Gossard needs a body. You qualify."
Razak: "You want more access, you got to earn it."
Razak: "You ask a lot of questions, Higgins."
Higgins: "Um, I'm a journalist, sir."
Razak: "That's too bad. I don't talk to journalists. Only
troopers."
Razak: "Trouble. Blister bugs. Spit acid that will burn
through a power suit quicker than you can scream for
help."
Rico: "Troopers don't leave their own behind."
Razak (to Higgins re: using weapon in place of camera): "If you're going
to shoot something, I suggest you use this."
Gossard: "They must be on foot."
Brutto: "What does your crystal ball say now?"
Jenkins: "It says we should follow their tracks."
Higgins: "Lieutenant, how did you lose your arm?"
Razak: "My first solo command during Operation: Pest Control. My
orders were to move my squad through a valley and secure the hill on the other
side. Simple op. After all, the valley was quiet.
(screaming) Then it was quiet again. I still feel it
sometimes. Phantom limb syndrome. I guess some pain is never meant
to go away."
Brutto: "Does, uh, Brainiac look a little fried to
you?"
Doc: "If he is, then so are we."
Higgins: "Um, Lieutenant, we have a problem."
Razak: "We have more than one, Private."
Flores: "Is this a private party?"
Higgins: "The more the merrier."
Flores: "I never thought I'd be so happy to see the Prom
Queen."
Rico: "You got to love that girl's timing."
Razak (to Higgins): "Now you have something to write
about."
Lieutenant Carmen Ibanez (to bug hanging on front of ship): Sorry, I don't pick up
hitchhikers."
Higgins: "In the bug war, individual achievements didn't really mean
much. Troopers lived and died as a team. But some battles couldn't
help but be personal. And they were meant to stay that
way."

Tophet Campaign: Day 27
Operation: Shake and Bake
02/07/2000
Higgins: "In the great bug war, each squad worked together
as a team. ... Every trooper had a role to play."
[Roughnecks playing football]
Brutto: "That's illegal use of the head, brain-boy!"
Jenkins: "Trust me, Sarge, it doesn't take a psychic to read a mind like
yours."
Brutto: "It's a tin can with legs."
Gossard: "A cybernetic humanoid assault system. Titanium reinforced
superstructure and the fire power of an entire squad. Totally
autonomous. Its primary processor runs on bio-enhanced logic matrix.
... Its C.P.U. is a learning computer. Its cognitive skills are
human-like."
CHAS: "I am fully operational, Lieutenant Gene Razak, serial
number JR902441, decorated for meritorious service ten times. Brutto --
Francis -- Sergeant...."
Brutto: "... All right, sweetie pie. We know who we are."
Higgins: "Do you have a name?"
CHAS: "-- Registration number 102261JLP...."
[J293-TKR is painted on shoulder of CHAS]
Flores: "A machine programmed to kiss butt. What will
they think of next?"
CHAS: "My power supply, motor reflexes, optical and
auditory sensors are all far superior to any humans."
Rico: "Not very smart for a computer."
Rico: "It's a machine, not a trooper."
Higgins: "How are you doing?"
CHAS: "I am functioning within acceptable parameters."
Higgins: "... it might be acceptable to you but the rest of the squad seems
to think you're running a little low on social skills."
CHAS: "That does not hinder the performance of my duties."
Higgins: "... a squad is a team. And if you're not on the team,
you're on your own. ... ... first off, you need a name not a
registration number. It'll humanize you. Cybernetic humanoid assault
system -- C - H - A - S -- CHAS! What do you think?"
CHAS: "I have no opinion. --"
Higgins: "You also have to learn to talk like an ape. You need to
start learning the lingo. For example, troopers don't retreat, the 'beat
feet.'"
CHAS: "Striking one's pedal extremities would cause injury making escape
impossible."
Doc: "What kind of bug is that?"
CHAS: "Entymological classification Coleoptera felguris commonly called a
Tophet Blaster bug. The insect draws heat from its surrounding to ignite a
biochemical reaction in its prothorax. Releasing an energy wave -"
Rico: "... we got bugs at 12:00. --"
Flores: "6:00, too."
Gossard: "Time sure flies when you're having fun."
Higgins: "Tougher than an M.I. drill sergeant -- more
poised that the most seasoned vet -- the cybernetic humanoid assault system or
'CHAS' as he is known to his squad mates is SICON's trooper of tomorrow."
Rico: "So much for truth in broadcasting."
Flores: "If I didn't know better, Johnny Rico, I'd say you were
jealous. He is quite a specimen. Tall, dark and aluminum."
Razak: "... my gut tells me there's something down
there."
CHAS: "But internal organs cannot speak."
Rico: "Sorry, wirehead. Instinct can't be downloaded."
[Jenkins bound in 'constrictor spray']
Rico: "You look good in a straight jacket."
Jenkins: "Not my size."
Rico: "Rule number one: troopers take care of their
own."
CHAS: "I violated no regulation."
Rico: "Regulations? We're talking about a trooper's life."
CHAS: "... During any operation, there are acceptable losses."
Rico: "You just don't get it, do you? And you never will, because you
are a machine."
Rico: "That glorified toaster makes one more wrong move,
I'll pull its plug myself."
CHAS: "... I will analyze the situation and project an
acceptable casualty rate."
Rico: "Acceptable to who?"
Higgins: "CHAS, a trooper is not a statistic. Losses are never
acceptable."
CHAS (to Rico after blasting several bugs that come up behind
Rico): "When bringing up the rear, it is your responsibility to be alert to
enemy activity."
Flores (after CHAS points out a mine field): "Skinnies have
mines?"
Jenkins (after a suggestion detectors be used to locate mines):
"Skinnies aren't big on metal parts."
CHAS: "My olfactory sensors were able to detect the gas
pockets. I cut a coolant line to create a trail for the squad to
follow. I suggest we -- 'beat feet', sir."
[Higgins had been blown into the mine field by an explosion and
stepped on a mine while trying to leave the mine field]
CHAS: "The trigger is pressure sensitive. Without weight
displacement, the mine we'll detonate. --"
Higgins: "Get out of here or we're both dead."
CHAS: "I was never alive. -- You're right, Private
Higgins. Some losses are not acceptable."
[CHAS placed his foot on the mine replacing Higgins' foot and threw Higgins out
of the mine field]
CHAS: "-- Go! I will cover your retreat. ...
-- Roughnecks! Ho!"
[After running out of ammo, CHAS draws bugs around him before setting off the
mine, destroying itself and numerous bugs]
Higgins: "Ultimately, somebody at high command determined
that cyborgs weren't cost-effective. Good thing troopers came cheap."

Tophet Campaign: Day 83
10/05/2000
Higgins: "Most of the time, the day in day out struggle to
stay alive created unbreakable bonds between troopers."
Flores: "Carl hasn't been the same since that brain bug
thing on Hydora."
Doc: "Skinnies stripped us clean; weapons,
communicators. I'm not even sure I'm wearing undies anymore."
Rico (pulling out Swiss Army Knife): "Huh, they missed this."
Flores: "I don't even want to know where you were hiding that."
Brutto: "Perfect. When they come back, I'll grab the biggest
Skinny. You file his nails till he begs for mercy."
Colonel T'Phai: "We are seeking information."
Brutto: "Buy a newspaper."
Gossard: "Most geysers erupt at predictable
intervals."
T'Phai: "I find it crude to suck out a creatures
brain. Crude, but effective."
Higgins (after escaping a flaming geyser): "Now I know how
popcorn feels."
Higgins: "Officially, the whole incident was catalogued as
Engagement 2124 in the Y Sector."

Tophet Campaign: Day 89
10/10/2000
Higgins: "Day 89. The Tophet campaign. My grandmother
used to say, 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.' That's
tough to do when you're the main course."
Gossard: "32 Seconds between blasts. Each wave better than
a thousand degrees."
Doc: "Yeah, but it's a dry heat."
Barcalow: "The Big Dog's coming in."
Rico: "He's coming in. I feel so loved."
Brutto: "You're turning into my kind of trooper, Rico -- short on
brains, long on guts."
Colonel T'Phai: "Yours is a weak and pitiful race condemned to
extinction."
T'Phai: "Humans, your time is over."
Jenkins: "Two voices? He's not alone in
there."
Brutto: "Some kind of a mind-control bug?"
Doc: "Lieutenant, bio-weapons will want a live specimen to study,
not a chunk of charcoal."
Brutto: "Last time I checked, this was a war, not a biology class,
Doc."
Gossard: "I always hated hide-and-seek."
Higgins: "This is private R. Higgins. I'm with Colonel
T'Phai, the once-fearsome leader of the Skinnie army. Colonel T'Phai, what
is it like to have a bug living inside your head?"
T'Phai: "It's full of -- surprises!"
T'Phai: "The bugs are your enemy, not I."
T'Phai: "I was only attempting to destroy my enemy. I am no
different than you."
Brutto: "Check the mirror. You're nothing like
me."
T'Phai: "My people are slaves, controlled by bugs. Our actions
are not our own."
Higgins: "Why do bugs need slaves?"
T'Phai: "To work in the mines."
Higgins: "So Tophet is just a bug pit stop?"
Brutto (re: T'Phai): "Yesterday he was trying to kill us and
today we're helping him save his lousy race?"
Razak: "Welcome to the insanity of war, Sergeant."
Brutto: "I'm not going down without a fight."
Higgins: "Why would the bugs blow up a planet they've been
fighting three months to keep?"
Razak: "Maybe they finally have what they came
for."
Gossard (re: mine): "Not exactly a 'whistle while you work' kind
of place."
T'Phai: "My race needs sunlight to live."
Gossard (re: mind control bugs exiting dead Skinnie): "Real 'love
'em and leave 'em' types."
Flores (re: Transport bug): "Train's leaving without
us."
Rico (re: needing to get off Transport bug after planting explosives):
"End of the line."
Flores: "Did you have to put it like that?"
Flores (to Rico): "You sure know how to show a girl a good
time."

Pluto and Beyond
(This is a highlights episode)
12/21/1999
Higgins: "More than three weeks into this second
confrontation with the bug forces, tens of thousands of soldiers have been
mobilized. And SICON officials now confirm that the situation is worse
than anticipated."
Higgins: "What began as a supposedly simple infestation has
escalated into a battle for control of two planets. Pluto remains the hot
zone...."
Higgins: "... as every trooper learns quickly, for every
bug eliminated, there are seemingly four more to take its place."
[Closed Captioning said 'three' instead of 'four'.]
Higgins: "Evidence of increased enemy infiltration can
already be seen on the second front of the conflict. The planet, Tophet, a
hostile but strategically important world populated by both the bugs and their
allies -- an alien race tagged as 'skinnies'."
Higgins: "Unlike the successful 'Operation Pest Control'
two years prior, it appears that this time around, the bugs are not only greater
in number, but better prepared for the SICON assault."
Higgins: "An inside look at the enemy: cold-blooded
killing machines ... with only one goal in mind -- destroy the human race."
Higgins: "Know your enemy -- it's the most important lesson
learned during war...."
Higgins: "At least five different bug species have been
encountered on Pluto alone. Most pervasive and vicious are the warriors,
equipped with jaws that scissor through metal like a knife slicing butter.
... A major threat to troopers, however, is often rock-drilling cliff
mites which can seemingly appear out of nowhere. ... Tankers cause
their share of trouble too -- massive insect that erupt without warning,
emitting a napalm-like spray that can engulf a target 300 yards away.
... And then, out of the sky come the swarms of hoppers. ...
Most recently, on Tophet, yet another new menace has emerged -- blister
bugs. The acid they spit will burn through a power suit in a fraction of a
second." [Higgins starts this phrase stating 'five' species on Pluto
but he only lists four. The fifth specie he mentions in on Tophet.
It is assumed that the fifth specie on Pluto is the plasma bug mentioned in a
later quotation.]
Higgins: "Efforts are now under way to capture certain
insect types, such as the deadly plasma bug, and bring them back to Earth for
examination."
Higgins: "The key to winning this war, however, may not
rest on the weaknesses of bugs but the strengths of the men and women on the
front lines."
Higgins: "The huge and public success of Operation Pest
Control prompted legions of young people to enlist. But their romantic
vision of the military were soon shattered by the realities of war. For
every leader and every battle that makes headlines, there are hundreds of
skirmishes involving tens of thousands of soldiers you never hear about.
And yet, ultimately, the fate of this war, of our planet's survival, rests in
their hands."
Higgins: "While SICON command is busy plotting the strategy
behind the bug war, most troopers are just busy trying to stay alive.
Survival often depends upon a helping hand."
Higgins: "Sometimes the enemy can be used to defeat
itself."
Higgins: "With the bug war now being waged on two fronts,
this operation is no longer a quick hit and run. It is now a full-scale
interstellar conflict."

Tesca Nemerosa Campaign: Day 48
01/05/2000
[Memory within Rico's coma]
Jenkins: "Shame to see a young man struck out in his prime."
[Memory within Rico's coma]
Jenkins: "Can't argue with a hot-blooded Romeo."
Doctor: "Private Rico has been in a coma for two
days. ... His surgery was successful and the liquid regeneration
tank is healing his initial trauma but the man was clinically dead when you
brought him in. His brain was deprived of oxygen for a very long
time."
"Bugs? Retreating?"
"What do they know that we don't?"
Doc: "Science still doesn't know how much a coma patient
hears."
Flores: "I love you Johnny Rico. Always have.
Always will. ... You have to wake up, Johnny, and give us a
chance."
Razak: "Ever hear of the calm before the storm?"
Doc: "The tank has it's own reserve power, but I just used
most of it bringing Rico back."

Tesca Nemerosa Campaign: Day 61
09/17/2000
Brutto: "Webs give me the creeps."
Flores: "Got another tunnel, sir."
Razak: "You're already down there, paperboy. Care to take
it?"
Higgins: "Oh, yeah, it's my heart's desire."
Higgins: "It was day 61 of the Tesca Nemerosa campaign. Private
Johnny Rico had been wounded 15 days earlier and that's a long time for a squad
to operate a man short. Everyone was a little on edge."
Flores: "This is such a waste of time. I signed on to nail bugs,
not crawl through holes."
Doc: "Especially holes too small to have been carved by
workers."
Higgins: "Maybe they were cut by some indigenous animal -- giant gophers or
something."
Gossard: "Bugs aren't bad enough? Now you want to fight space
gophers?"
Doc: "Aw, he's bucking for a Section Eight."
Flores: "He's FedNet. He comes with a camera."
Dr. Shrabi (re: Rico): "He's exhibiting textbook post-traumatic stress
syndrome."
Brutto: "Scanners, gizmos. You guys spend too much time in those
garbage cans."
Doc: "What are you yelling at me for?"
Brutto: "You've forgotten what it's like to be human. No offense,
Carl."
Doc: "You did what?"
Shrabi: "My duty, Corporal. Rico will be 100% physically in a matter
of days, but mentally -"
Doc: "So the kid's having a few bad dreams. Who
isn't?"
Shrabi: "It's worse than that. His paranoia is increasing. He
hears bugs and screaming all the time. And when we don't hear it, too he
grows very hostile."
Doc: "But a Section Eight -"
Razak: "You sicced Intel on my trooper?"
Shrabi: "Not yet, but it is standard operating -"
Razak: "They'll mind-wipe him."
Shrabi: "Private Rico cannot fear what he cannot remember and I believe it
will be best if he doesn't remember anything at all. ... When the
psychics are done, he'll be reeducated, retrained and
reassigned."
Doc: "This ain't right."
Shrabi: "It's not an issue of right or wrong. It's Intel procedure -
initiated the moment he's declared a Section Eight."
Razak: "That's if he's declared a Section Eight."
Shrabi: "Yes, if."
Brutto: "Oh, ladies first, of course."
Flores: "I thought you wanted me to go first."
Razak: "What has gotten into this unit?"
T'Phai: "Do not be overly concerned. I've seen this before with my
own troops. One man emerges as the heart of the squad. The conflicts
will disappear once Private Rico returns to duty."
Higgins: "In an incredible turn of events the squad has found a new
species of bug digging tunnels toward the beach. Unfortunately, base is
not responding. Is it coincidence?"
Razak: "I don't believe in coincidence. This is enemy
action."
T'Phai: "The tunnels are for the control bugs. They are
vicious. The control bugs enslaved my people on Tophet. I will die
before I let another climb onto my neck and take over my mind."
Ibanez: "Johnny, maybe the tranquilizers are making your dreams seem
more -"
Rico: "No, Carmen, I've been dreaming of bugs since the war began.
The dreams don't mean a thing. -- The tunnels, they're attacking
from below. They're coming! I am saving your butts whether you like
it or not!"
Rico: "Rumble, grind, screams -- satisfied?"
Shrabi: "The tank was secured to the floor. The fluid could have been
amplifying the subterranean noise."
Rico: "Thank you!"
[Witnessing Rico and Ibanez kissing]
Brutto: "Uniform not regulation."
Gossard: "He's on the mend."
Doc: "Who prescribed
her?"

Crash Landing on Living Asteroid
09/17/2000
Higgins: "You don't really know how bad things are until you make them
worse."
Higgins: "Ammo was low, morale was lower."
Flores: "Did we just volunteer for a suicide mission?"
Rico: "Yeah, when we enlisted."
Flores: "Where are you going to find another girl who could shoot the
eye out of a bug at 200 meters?"
Rico: "No place. The question is can you shoot the eyes out of a
hundred of them?"
Razak: "The people I care about are all right here."
Razak: "We're going to have to pool all remaining ammunition. Our
best shooters line up first. That means Brutto, T'Phai and Flores.
One of us falls, another takes his place till we run out of bugs, bullets or
Roughnecks."
Rico: "Permission to object, sir. Let me go, L.T. I'm as
good a shot as you."
Razak: "Probably better but you have other responsibilities."
Rico: "What could be more important?"
Razak: "You made Corporal. Congratulations."
Rico: "What's that mean?"
Razak: "It means, should anything happen to me and Brutto, you're in
charge."
Rico: "Hey, hey, you are coming back, sir."
Razak: "Don't start giving me orders, Corporal. Practice on someone
else."
Gossard: "Don't even think about it."
Gossard: "We're running out of oxygen fast."
Rico: "Well, then we better start looking for some."
Brutto: "Snap out of it, Rico. What are the chances we're going to
find air out there?"
Ibanez: "We could just sit here and die."
T'Phai: "That is a choice."
Doc: "Maybe we ought to leave a trail of bread crumbs."
Rico: "Pinochle, anyone?"
Ibanez: "I don't know how to play Pinochle."
Higgins: "Nobody knows how to play Pinochle."
Razak: "I know how to play Pinochle."
