Roughnecks:  Starship Trooper Chronicles

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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."