Roughnecks: STC Fan fiction

NOTE: Enter usual disclaimers here-- I don't own any of them, the book, the series, the movie/s. This fic is based on the series, not the book, not the movie and definitely not the second movie. Like I said, don't worry about the new character/s. It's still about the bug war, The new trooper just helps my story along. Also, I think it's good to mention that I have trouble keeping track of bugs-- especially when I wrote this 3/4 of the whole fic circa 2002. I found it a few weeks ago, re watched the whole series on youtube (props to you people) and decided to finish it with the help of my own notes from 2002. Oh. And I'm not Sony. I'll finish the last real chapter (chap 6) in a week. That being said, I hope the fic's alright.

STC 1:Beijing

SICON HQ fell in Hawaii. Luckily, Sky Marshal Sanchez had the base evacuated mere hours before the onslaught and then ordered those at Intel to find the bug Queen ASAP. The psychics found her but they weren't happy. She was in the Earth's mantle.

In what was suppose to be Earth's final stand versus the Arachnids, SICON ordered MI troops to bring the war to the bugs. The POA-- Kill the Queen. The Roughnecks especially were one of the few squads given the most difficult if not impossible mission to take on the Queen themselves or die like troopers. We went. We saw. And amazingly with all the roughnecks accounted for, we conquered.

But not without very heavy losses. The MI was half the force it once was and SICON itself was having trouble reorganizing itself. It was okay, they said, the world was once again safe and we can rebuild. The rest of the now scattered and confused arachnids would be exterminated and the threat is history.

Or so we thought. Once again, Intel was wrong. All the pre-cogs woke up saying they had a message from the Queen just when SICON started printing dismissal letters. SICON dismissed the first few phone calls as post traumatic stress disorder until so many pre-cogs continued giving the same message. The message was clear. The bug inside the mantle was not the Queen. It was a decoy. This was just the first wave.

The Queen was still out there gathering her troops for her next offensive. She is waiting and planning. Earth was still facing extermination.

It was Day of the Homefront Campaign. After a week trying to reclaim and barricade what's left of Las Vegas, SICON finally gave the Roughnecks 72 hours of R&R not on Earth but in orbit aboard the Valley Forge. The logic was that it was more efficient to reach our next destination from above. All we needed to do was drop. That's SICON for you-- it's all about efficiency.

Less than 24 hours after R&R started, the higher ups reassigned Sergeant Zim to a much younger November squad to help their LT if only for a while. It was understandable. Squads like the November needed a person with more experience to break in new troopers. It was probably only due to General Redwing that this squad hasn't been dismantled. Zim will be missed but he promised to be back. But once again, the Roughnecks were a man short.

Things were normal for the rest of the R&R aboard the Valley Forge. Rico was in and out of squad quarters. The new LT position has left paperwork and meetings which he wasn't used to. Sometimes, he'd bring the paperwork back to squad quarters and a few of us would help him finish it off-- if help was even the right word. The troopers' normal havoc was enough for anything to take longer than it should, what more if they "helped".

The hours ticked away and amazingly, this R&R wasn't interrupted with another priority mission. However, there was word that the Roughnecks were getting not one but two troopers. "The more the merrier," Gossard had said while tinkering with another gadget. And almost on cue, the doors slid open and revealed the first of two troopers assigned. "Did you miss me?" Carl Jenkins had asked as he entered the room with his belongings. The room erupted in cheers and banter. "Great. The freak is back." Max Brutto had said.

Robert Higgins: The Roughnecks

Rico entered his squad's room to find it in its usual disarray and havoc. People were going about their normal business of teasing and prodding while Higgins recorded it all in his camera. Max Brutto lost his balance and knocked whatever Gossard had been prying with a screwdriver away.

"Brutto, what part of 'this thing is sensitive' did you not understand?" He said as he picked up his new toy and returned to his bunk.

Rico cleared his throat.

"All of it," was his reply.

Gossard sighed and rolled his eyes. "I should've known."

"Guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree." Doc said as he passed by to talk to the squad's only skinny T'Phai.

Rico cleared his throat again. This time everyone had noticed, quieted down, stared and went back to what they were doing. After all, it was just Rico. The door behind him slid open and Dizzy Flores came in and smiled as she plopped down her bunk beside Carl Jenkins.

"Well someone smells of starch." She teased.

"Maybe the pre-cogs fixed him?" Jenkins offered.

"Ha Ha." Rico answered. "R&R ends in 2 hours and I just received our orders." And with that, all activity came to a screeching halt. Once again, Rico was no longer 'our trooper buddy' Rico. He was Lt. Rico-- Infantry Officer.

T'Phai was the first to stand at attention. As if the gesture itself was sign, in an instant, everyone was in line and at attention.

Rico nodded and gave T'Phai a small grateful smile. "At ease." He ordered. He kicked a pillow out of the way and planted a tripod on the spot. A 3-D hologram automatically illuminated the space above.

"Beijing has been designated a hot spot in the last 24 hours. Fortunately, most of the population has already been evacuated to other provinces and the outskirts when they were informed that the desert nearby was overrun. The problem is, SICON doesn't know where the bugs are hiding. All aerial shots of the city shows a ghost town one shot then crawling the next."

"How about the infra reds and x-rays..." Gossard interrupted.

Rico shook his head. "No, nothing out of the ordinary and no bug activities. It's like the bugs learned how to become invisible. The Sky Marshal himself thinks the bugs have a new M.O. SICON has asked us to drop from the west of the city and head south. Delta has the East and North. We recon and figure this out. If it gets too hot, we have orders to evacuate immediately. Any questions?"

Rico looked around the room and stopped at Higgin's raised hand. "Higgins?"

"Ya, um.." Higgins readjusted his camera, "didn't they say that we're still expecting another trooper? Where is he?"

Rico sighed and scratched his head. "They said he was on transport here and he's already been briefed. We're supposed to meet him in the transport bay."

"So we're suppose to play hide and seek with bugs while we look out for the new guy?" Brutto exclaimed. "Nice." He said sarcastically.

"Isn't that what we did with you that day in Oahu?" Gossard shot back.

"OKAY!" Rico said a bit louder to discourage more havoc. "Any more RELEVANT questions?" He asked. The room stayed silent. "No? Good. Enjoy the rest of what time's left. Check your equipment and..." He looked around the messy room. "...clean up. We meet at transport bay at 1300."

Doc looked at the state of his bunk. "We could haze the new guy with house cleaning."

Lt. Ibanez looked at the trooper in front of her, read the paper given to her and looked at the trooper again. The trooper met her gaze. "Are you sure you were assigned to Lt. Rico, Private Anderson?" She asked as she read the paper once more.

"Ma'am yes ma'am." The trooper answered curtly.

Lt. Ibanez shrugged and turned around. "Alright trooper, follow me. I hope you're ready. Alpha's a bit crazier than the rest." The trooper silently followed the lieutenant. Ibanez looked back once in awhile and every time a bit more confused than the last.

They turned the corner and she punched in her code. The doors to the transport bay slid open. Immediately the noise of engines and the smell of fumes overcame their sense. Ibanez smiled in complete comfort as she lead the way to a bunch of troopers standing beside her plane. For some reason, she was always their ride.

"It's Lt. Ibanez." She heard Brutto say loud enough for the rest of squad to get in line. "Officer on deck." He said louder.

She saluted back. "At ease troopers." She smiled as she saw Rico come towards them behind her plane. "I have a package for you."

Brutto eyed the new trooper warily. "You've got to be kidding me." He said under his breath.

"What is it Brutto?" T'Phai asked.

Brutto shook his head. "Nothing skinny."

"Really?" He asked with an easy smile on. "Does this mean we have more R&R Carmen?"

Lt. Ibanez chuckled. "No, but you do have another hand." She handed him the transfer paper of the trooper behind her. "All yours. I'm going to rev up the engines. You've got 5 to get strapped."

Rico looked up from paper and called after Lt. Ibanez. "Hey! Is this serious?" But Lt. Ibanez had already gone out of earshot and into the cockpit. He gave the trooper a wary smile and turned towards his squad.

"Roughnecks!" Everyone straightened out at Rico's command. "This is Private Ashley Anderson. It says here she hits her mark 95 of the time but she comes with a trial period...? Now, pack it up." His troopers immediately filed inside the ship but there was definite confusion in the air.

"Can they do that? Trial period?" Higgins asked Gossard who was in front of him.

"Maybe she's a CHAS?" Gossard answered and shrugged.

"Much easier on the eyes though." Doc said.

Dizzy rolled her eyes. "Shut up and go! You're holding up the line with the marauder."

Rico turned to his new trooper. "I don't know what's happening with SICON but welcome to Roughnecks."

The ride to Beijing took 30 minutes but to Ashley Anderson, it felt like forever. She sat uncomfortably on her seat as the rest of the Roughnecks bantered about nothing in particular. She's almost got their names because of their helmets. She was just glad she sat in between T'Phai and Higgins. They were much quieter although Higgins would try to make a news clip one way or another.

She looked up to the other side where her new LT sat beside Dizzy Flores and Carl Jenkins. They were talking to each other. She didn't have to be special ops to know that it was about her with one of them stealing glances at her once in awhile.

Then there's the trooper beside T'Phai, Max Brutto, who was eying her like a bug would eye a human. She was getting tired of that boy staring at her. She sighed and looked up. "How much longer is this going to take?" She whispered to herself.

And as if on cue, Lt. Ibanez's voice filtered through the speakers. "Alright Roughnecks, this is your stop. Welcome to China."

As the plane descended, the troopers readied to jump of the ship. The rear door of the plane slowly swung open.

For being known as one of the most populous cities in the planet, Beijing was quiet. The summer sunshine filtered through the empty streets and broken down buildings peacefully. There was a slight breeze going through the city picking up the dust and swirling it about a little. The street before them looked like the people just dropped what they were doing and disappeared. The troopers stood there in awe.

"Good setting for an Eastern western." Doc commented finally breaking the silence

"Not so Twilight Zone." Gossard smirked inside his marauder

Higgins clicked on his camera, "We just dropped in Beijing and the city seems deserted. However, this could be deceiving.." He continued on his news report as he sweeping shots of the view in front of him.

"Um.. Rico" Dizzy elbowed her friend lightly knocking Rico out of his reverie. "Wake up and smell the tea brewing." She hinted.

Rico nodded. "Right. Thanks Diz." He looked over to his left. "Carl, anything?"

Carl Jenkins winced a little as he did a mental scan of the place. "It's crawling," he said, "I just can't seem to pin point where. They're not above ground just yet."

"Wow. Lotsa help there, Jenkins." Brutto chided as he looked around.

"Ok, Here's what we're going to do." Rico said as he looked at his team. "We head straight to the next major intersection. There, we split into two teams. T'Phai, Goss, Brutto and Andy, you turn right immediately on the Third Ring Road and head south. Dizzy, Carl, Doc and I will head straight and turn on the Second Ring Road. We meet at Tiananmen Square. Weapons at the ready at all times and radio in if you find something." He looked at the shell of the city around him. "Anything."

"Sir, Yes sir!" The said in unison.

"What's the matter? Afraid to live forever?" Rico asked.

T'Phai watched the younger Brutto as they separated and turned a corner. He has been particularly less aggressive than usual that it has become suspicious. It was obviously because of the new trooper Andy. T'Phai eyed Brutto as they fanned out closer to anywhere and anything that could provide cover in case bugs come out. He noticed the human's preoccupation with the girl and it was seemed like the girl obviously knew she was being watched.

By the third small intersection, the skinny had enough of this. It was dangerous to be on a mission with this kind of mistrust. He thanked the gods no arachnids have come yet. But the quiet was just as bad.

"Brutto, is something the matter?" T'Phai asked cautiously.

"Besides from this feels like an ambush and I'm with a skinny? No everything is peachy." He answered sarcastically in usual Brutto fashion.

The new trooper smirked. "Don't worry. He just doesn't like me." She answered before moving to peer in another empty building.

"It's alright." Gossard answered. "No one likes him." He teased as he maneuvered the heavy marauder

T'Phai took a deep breath as he carefully worded his next words. "Is there a valid reason why?" There was a momentary silence.

"She was a year ahead of me in my high school. Hanged out with the weird crowd." Brutto finally said. "She burned my buddy in chemistry class and sent him to the hospital with 2nd degree burns. We lost our undefeated streak and almost lost the title in the sports league. That nerd has an attitude problem."

"Whoah," Gossard exclaimed. "Remind me never to piss you off."

Andy laughed out loud. "Right." She said with hint of sarcasm. "Look, I was in that school for a year..."

"Thank God it was only a year." Brutto cut her off.

"... and it wasn't my fault his friend was being a total jerk blowing powdered chemicals at my lab partner. So, I adjusted the gas output of the burner and waited until he came near enough then lit it up. " Andy explained further. "It was labeled an accident."

"Right. An accident coming from the science wiz. How believable is that?" Brutoo rolled his eyes in contempt.

She squinted her watching black dots from the horizon. "We can reminisce later." She pointed at the movement in front.

A bright blue streak streamed down and hit the pavement slightly before them. And from within the building to their left, they heard screams.

"Those are bugs alright." Gossard said at he let loose a salvo a missiles from the maurader towards the advancing horde.

T'Phai turned on his communications. "Red Leader, come in, Red leader."

"We hear you T'Phai, over." Rico's voice came through the comm.

"We have bugs..." He looked over at Brutto charging in the building where the screams are from. He came out with two reluctant scared little ones. "...and two human children."

"I wish there were bugs." Dizzy sighed as she checked another building. "This quiet is killing me."

Doc smirked. "You never stepped in a library before have you."

Rico stopped in his tracks and looked around at the empty city. "No, Dizzy is right. Normally there'd be swarms of bugs by now."

"I'm not complaining if we don't find anything for once." Doc said. Suddenly a faint sound of machine guns and bombs echoed through desolate streets. "And there goes wishful thinking."

"We hear you T'Phai, over." Rico said as the skinny's voice started reporting. "You found kids?!" He exclaimed in shock.

"Um guys," Higgins said feebly.

Dizzy went to Rico with a concerned look on her face. "They found what?"

"Children. Two of them." Carl answered matter of factly then opened his eyes and charged his morita. "We have problems of our own."

"Guys!" Higgins tried again, louder this time as he took a few steps backwards.

Doc let loose a few missiles. "You had to say something Dizzy."

Rico watched as the swarm of Hoppers grew bigger by their left side. "Great. Just great." He muttered as he readied his own morita. "Make your way to Tiananmen with the children asap. We'll meet you there." He commanded to T'Phai before he shot a few rounds into the warriors and backpedaled heading south.

"There's too many of them! We can't stay here!" Brutto yelled as he shot a few more Hoppers out of the air. The four were hardly holding the line. T'Phai dodged as a bug came too close for comfort and immediately shot it down.

"I'm taking the Plasma! Cover me!" Gossard shouted to no one in particular. "Go ahead." He heard T'Phai answer back as he aimed at the bright blue bug stationed at the back of the pack. The plasma bug exploded taking a large part of its kin with it. However it was not enough to force the bugs to retreat.

From the corner of her eyes she saw something fly pass them. "The kids!" She muttered as she broke their line and slid on her back underneath the flying bug taking it out in the process. She skid all the way to the feet of the little kids and winked at them before she went back to helping her defend the line.

T'Phai knew they had to buy more time to think. Only a few seconds would be enough to reload and regroup. He switched his weapon's settings to plasma. "We should create a firewall." He ordered. One by one they shot and created a wall of blue flame. Brutto took the time wipe the sweat off his forehead. T'Phai looked at the children warily thankful they weren't his own but also thinking about what would he do if they were. He went to the children and coaxed them out to join them. It was safer that way.

"We should retreat half a block." Gossard suggested as he looked around and caught his breath.

Brutto looked at him incredulously. "WHAT? What are you talking about? How is that suppose to help?"

Andy looked behind half a block to see what he was referring to. Then she saw them-- the bridges and the pedestrian overpasses. "We can safely blow up the pillars of those bridges. It'll take a whole bunch of them when those fall."

Gossard grinned and nodded. Andy reloaded her own weapon and fired on the bugs that were starting to pass through the firewall.

"Then we should go." T'Phai said. He carried one of the children and handed the other one to Brutto. "Take him and we will go ahead. They will cover our 'retreat'" He explained before the boy could protest.

"Don't worry Brutto. You'll make a great babysitter." Gossard said as he set his marauder to go backwards.

A large explosion and cloud of dust erupted from a distance. Higgins watched as the cloud grew and dissipated into the air. "Are they trying to blow the city apart?" He asked. His concentration quickly went back to the matter at hand.

"They're fine as far as I can tell, Rico. Including the civilians." Carl said as he felt Rico glance at him for some answers.

"That sounds like fun." Dizzy said as she threw some grenades into the hordes coming at them. "Because I do believe gentlemen, that we are being flanked."

Doc aimed for the buildings surrounding the bugs and made them crumble over the bugs. Unfortunely, he can only shoot some buildings down. Not all of the buildings were made of cement after all.

Rico smiled. "Good, because that's exactly what we're going to do."

"What?!" Higgins exclaimed.

Dizzy grinned as she shot a few more warriors down. "I like how this is sounding."

"Doc, there's a subway station sign right there. Let's pull rug from underneath them." Rico pointed out to the sign with a train picture.

Doc shook his head unsurely. "But Rico, our floor might collapse along with it."

"Then put on your running shoes." Dizzy announced.

"What?!" Higgins exclaimed for a whole different reason.

As the dust settled from the explosions, the troopers from both team stared in awe at the sight of broken concrete and dead bugs. However, there was something very odd. Besides from the destruction they had caused, the streets were again as quiet as they had found it. There were no signs of the bugs retreating. There were no signs of bug activity.

Dizzy Flores lowered her weapon as she surveyed the area. In the year that she had been a trooper, she would usually see bugs retreating after a large amount of them have been beaten. There hasn't been an instance that they would just disappear like they never existed. She saw Higgins with his camera once again filming the wreckage with an equally confused look on his face.

"Did they just learn a new magic trick?" She asked as she watched Carl in deep concentration.

Carl opened his eyes and growled in frustration. "There's nothing-- AGAIN. It's like the bugs learned how to disappear."

"But still," Doc looked at Rico, "bugs don't do magic."

Rico bit his lower lip equally frustrated at the situation. It was obvious he did not like these odds. The area they were in was once again a ghost town just as the photos Intel had given had shown-- there was nothing, then something, then nothing in an instant. The sun had also started to set over the city.

"Hig, radio the others to get to the square now. We're meeting up now." He ordered as he looked around. "Let's move."

Tiananmen square had always been slightly politically charged. It used to be a large clean plaza with government, state function buildings and museums surrounding it on three sides. The body of the revered leader of China's communist party used to be frozen inside one of the grand buildings. But now, across the entrance of crumbling entrance of the Forbidden city was a broken version of its previous grandeur. Like most of the important landmarks in the world, it was barely recognizable.

Rico's Roughnecks camped out underneath the ground in the abandoned subway station of Tiananmen. Communications with Delta squad could not be established and the Valley Forge had ordered the recon to continue even with two young civilians in tow.

Carl Jenkin's frustration went to an all time high as he sat slumped against the cool tiles of the subway walls. The squad knew the situation was dire if their resident pre-cog, who they believe to be the best psychic in all of SICON, could not get any sign of the arachnids even when they knew the bugs were around somewhere. What's worse is that now, they would have no advance warning if they were attacked.

They were now taking turns in keeping watch outside the station while the empty marauders acted like barricades if an attack came from within. Dizzy Flores, Max Brutto and T'Phai were asleep in front of a make shift fire. Doc was thoroughly checking the second child while the first one took his interest on one of the marauders and was accompanied by Gossard. Higgins, as usual, was filming the view outside.

Andy came back down the steps. "There's absolutely nothing out there unless you want rubble." She reported. Rico motioned her to take a seat and she did. She kept herself occupied by checking her ammunitions. Then she sighed as she noticed both Carl Jenkins and her new temporary LT stealing glances her way.

"Sir, permission to speak freely sir?" She asked, not that she needed to ask in this crew anyway. Apparently, they weren't big on protocol.

Rico received a nudge from Carl. "Oh. Right. Permission granted. What's on your mind?"

"I think the question will be what's on yours, sir." She answered wryly.

Rico looked at Carl hesitantly. Carl shrugged as if to say 'go ahead, it's your call.' "Look Andy, I've never seen an ace shooter being sent to a squad on probation before. It's usually either you're assigned or not."

"Actually I've been wondering about that too." Gossard said. He turned the corner carrying the little kid. "What's with the trial period?" He let the kid down when he reached his friends. The child sat down and looked at each of them, quietly waiting for his friend to be done with Doc.

Andy shrugged and took a deep breath. "I didn't get along with most of Sierra squad." She paused and smiled. "They didn't like me much either."

Carl's expression visibly changed as if light suddenly dawned on him. "That doesn't mean you get reassigned."

She nodded and smiled. "It does when the L.T. bags you with insubordination. That's kind of the way it works."

"But" Doc joined in the conversation, "Insubordination gets you kicked out of the military not reassignment."

"So what happened?" Carl reasoned asked curiously.

"Well, since there wasn't any real evidence and the witness accounts weren't unanimous on the charge, they couldn't really be sure if I were being insubordinate." She said as the little kid sat on her lap and fiddled with her helmet. "So they couldn't really boot me out but they could make me squad hop."

"That is the weirdest thing." Gossard commented. "What will they think of next."

Carl Jenkins nodded in agreement then an idea hit him. "Psychic blocking." He looked at Rico. "There have been instances when humans can block out psychics-- maybe that's something the bugs learned. It keeps them hidden." He said.

"But that wouldn't explain how they could just disappear all of a sudden." Gossard pointed out. "Or how Intel couldn't get an aerial view of the usual mounds and tunnels." Doc added.

"Or how quiet it is outside." Higgins said as he came down the stairs. "You can hear a pin drop out there."

Andy looked at her companions inquisitively. "Did you just say mounds and tunnels and Intel couldn't find them?"

Higgins returned her look. "That's what we're looking for. Weren't you briefed?"

Andy shrugged and gave him a weak smile. "They said to join Alpha team in their recon in Beijing. That's about it. Let me try to talk to these kids one moment." She stood up and headed over where the kids moved to play.

Rico gave her a surprised look. "You can speak Chinese?"

"Just a little. I lived in this city once for a few months." She answered without looking back. "I moved around a lot." A conversation in a different language meshed with a few english words echoed through the space. The kids were excited that someone could understand them finally. And Andy gave them small smiles as she tried to get them to speak slower so she could understand.

After a few minutes she came back to the group with weak smile. "Well?" Carl asked.

Rico shrugged. "What do you have?"

---

Day two of the China campaign and the Roughnecks had a new lead. Apparently, Beijing was perfect for a stealth bug invasion. Behind the Forbidden City, there was a garden with a man- made hill. In the last revolution, the communists piled the imperial family's belongings in a mound and cemented it eventually becoming the garden it is today-- or was. At the same note, Beijing also has its own network of underground escape tunnels. They were originally intended to be used as a bomb shelter for the whole population during the past world wars and eventually was used for evacuation purposes. People could live in those tunnels if they needed to. In its day, it was equip with a few days worth of food, weapons and medicine centers. It was also networked to have exits/ entrances to every major building and intersection in the city so it would be easy for the massive population to get in and out. They were also made so that tanks and army vehicles could roll through with ease. These tunnels were closed in the last century because it was starting to come apart. It was no longer safe.

The bugs didn't have to make their own mound or tunnels here. It had already existed. SICON would have never found the bugs because they assumed that they were Beijing's status quo. But the Roughnecks had to make sure that this hunch was correct and SICON changed the POA to search and destroy but to damage as little national landmarks as possible-- and there in lies the problem.

Robert Higgins: The Roughnecks

The squad had taken the main compound of the Forbidden City easily. Once again, there were no resistance which worried them more than ever since they were so accustomed to having the worst. The sweltering summer heat didn't help Max Brutto's mood although it seemed to help T'Phai's as they watched the quiet garden for bug activity not far from the North end of the City's wall. It was quiet so far. In fact, the greenery looked undisturbed. Brutto fidgeted.

"T'Phai and Brutto are you ready?" Rico's voice came through the communications line.

"Yes, we are in position." T'Phai answered as he raised his morita and took aim.

"Have I told you how I do not like this plan? Drawing bugs out is like asking for it." Brutto complained.

Rico's tone couldn't be more unapologetic. "Just blow it up Brutto. We're ready here."

Brutto raised his missile launcher and aimed for the garden. "Fine." he grunted.

T'Phai glanced as his partner's scowling face and decided against reprimanding him once again. "I will count you down." He said. " Launch at 5... 4... 3..."

Just then, the garden sprung in to life. Patches of grass moved and bugs came pouring out. A Streams of blue plasma streamed through the air above them.

"..2"

Behind them, there was a large explosion and squeals of bugs started to fill the air.

"..1"

Brutto fired the missiles into its intended target-- the man made hill of the garden. But it wasn't enough to topple the new bug stronghold down. He placed the empty launcher down as a massive wave of bugs seemed to head towards them.

"Let us go." T'Phai said as he fired a few rounds of plasma missiles to the bugs below trying to come up.

Andy watched a series of explosions from the Drum Tower and sighed. She had liked this city. The last time she was on this tower, she had a picture taken with the language group she was with not stalking bugs and waiting until their time came to infiltrate with nobody else but a psychic. Granted, this was Carl Jenkins she was with. Even a relative newbie like her has heard about the amazing talents this psychic had. And the odds she was dealt wasn't bad. She'd rather be in this squad than any other when faced with these 1 vs a million odds. Apparently, Alpha had managed to scrape themselves out of more encounters like this than any other. A group of Hoppers and Fireflies started coming to their direction prompting her to hide. No doubt the air would soon be filled with them seeing if there's anything moving to kill. The plan of making the garden blow would fail if they were noticed.

"Did you get to see where they are?" Carl Jenkins whispered. A swarm of bugs just passed by overhead.

Andy looked up for a few seconds thinking at a precise description as gun battles filled the air. "They just blew up the central court in the Forbidden City and I think the second one was the Tiananmen subway. They should be calling in soon." She answered as took another step down the steep stair case of the tower.

Carl looked at her curiously as she winced with every explosion she heard. "You don't like what's happening to this city do you?"

She gave him a weak smile when they reached the bottom. "Like I said, I lived here for a few months. I like this city." She took a peek outside the metal door. "This is as good as it's going to get. It's not so creepy crawly yet. We can still get to those narrow alleys without much problem"

Carl shook his head. "Negative, we're waiting for Rico's signal."

"I'm just saying it's getting crowded out there." Andy motioned for him to take a look. "I don't care how invisible we are to the brain bug that's probably in that hill, we're not going to be invisible when we make a run for it. Unless, of course, you make us invisible. But that's too pushy."

The marauders let loose another salvo of missiles in the middle of arachnid horde. The road underneath them gave way. That was the third major point they needed to blow. Dizzy Flores went on point as the children running in between the squad directed the easiest and most narrow roads to take with a few english words they learned overnight.

Dizzy grinned as she dodged the acid the blister bug's spit. She let loose a salvo of bullets and jumped over the dead bugs. She looked up at T'phai and Brutto on the roof top shooting down fireflies before jumping down to the street ahead of her. "Nice of you to drop in." She greeted.

"Tell me that when this chase is over." Brutto said as he used another plasma shot to firewall create a firewall before the warrior bugs heading towards them could reach the intersection.

"Great! You're here." Rico said as he noticed T'Phai saving one of the children from stepping on acid. "Goss, tell Carl..." He didn't have time to finish his sentence. The ground from underneath them started to shake and break apart. They knew this feeling before. They only had seconds. At the corner of his eyes, he saw a stone church still standing a few intersections on his left side.

"Retreat to that church! NOW!"

Doc gunned down another swarm of fireflies from the second floor window. It looked like bug central wherever he looked. Blister bugs had started spitting acid on the stone walls. The integrity of the building might be compromised if this didn't end soon. Not to mention, there was a possibility of the bugs just burrowing underneath. "Rico! We can't stay here long." He yelled.

"Higgins, drop the camera and grab your gun!" Brutto ordered. "The bugs aren't here for a photo op."

"T'Phai! Help me out here." Gossard shouted out to the skinny on the other side of the room.

Rico stared at situation in front of him. It was slightly easier when Zim was around because he was bossy enough to snap him out of his normal slump. But now the situations were different. SICON's parameters made it impossible t scrape out of this. He saw Dizzy come to his side and looked him in the eye.

"Johnny," she started her pep talk. "Just do what you want."

Rico shook his head. "I can't, Diz, SICON said monuments..."

"It's either SICON or the squad Rico. Carl and Andy are still out there." Dizzy said with a nod and went back to the window beside Doc.

Rico watched as Dizzy and Higgins took cover behind the wall as flames came from the window. The two kids sat beside each other on one of the broken pews quietly shivering with fear. "Right." He said to himself. "Valley Forge, this is Alpha team over."

There was a slight crackle in the com link then the obvious voice of the Valley Forge came loud and clear. "This is Valley Forge, what's your status Alpha team?"

"The bug mound is at sector. We are under massive fire and need evac immediately." Rico said as he saw a plasma explode a shake the church.

"Copy that Alpha, Lt. Ibanez will evac at your position in 10."

"There is no way in or out of this church Lt. Rico" T'Phai said in his usual calm demeanor.

"This building won't survive a bomb dropped from anywhere either." Gossard added. "Ibanez won't be able to land."

Rico shook his head. "We'll worry about that later. We need to make sure where Carl and Andy are."

Carl watched as the number of arachnids outside their door reached new heights. He looked at the new trooper sitting with her head on her hands waiting for Rico's signal. Carl himself was starting to get worried. The crowd outside would make it hard to get through with the original plan of getting near enough for the launchers to make maximum damage.

"Blue team, this is red team over!" Dizzy Flores' rushed voice filled the communications in their helmet. Immediately, the bugs outside squealed and headed their direction. They've picked up the radio signal. Carl automatically closed and barricaded the gate. Andy stood up and readied her morita aiming for the top of the narrow stairway just in case.

"This is Blue team." Carl asked as he heard random shouts and more gun fire.

"New plan. We need you to launch the missiles from the tower when you see fleet. Mark that hill and they'll blow it up." Dizzy answered almost enthusiastically.

Andy shot Carl a confused look. "Where are you?" Carl asked.

There were more sounds of gun fire before Dizzy could reply. "We're in a church surrounded by bugs not far from that big subway station."

"We're too near ground zero," Carl realized, "I guess, we're going down like troopers." Carl looked at Andy and saw her biting her lower lip.

"Yep. Seems like it." Dizzy answered.

"Sorry to interrupt." Andy said quickly, "you might not be going anywhere just yet, Flores. If that church is the stone Catholic one with a pretty big courtyard in front, there's a trap door underneath the marble altar leading to a bomb shelter. It's sort of a long story." She explained. She climbed the stairs leading to the drum room.

"But you're still..."

"Don't worry about it. These buildings have been here forever. I doubt that they'll just crumble and fall." She answered the worried voice of Dizzy. "Jenkins just turned on his locater beacon. Just remember to pick us up."

"Blue team out." Carl ended comm link and looked at Andy with disbelief. "Were you bluffing?"

Andy grinned. "About them? No. There is a bomb shelter there." She re- checked her morita and took a deep breath as she faced the door to the balcony. "About the tower? I sure hope not."

--

Intel suffered a hard blow after Beijing. SICON reprimanded them for relying far too much on what immediate information they can get. There was also new problem that the psychics may no longer be as accurate as before because the bugs had learned to block them out-- to what extent is still unknown.

We learned later that the Delta squad hadn't faired very well. They got caught within the walls of a temple unable to break loose because a city tunnel's exit/ entrance was very near where they needed to exit. Luckily they were all able to evacuate earlier than expected but not without injuries. The squad will not be seeing action for awhile.

Rico's Roughnecks cheated death once again. Carl Jenkins and Ashley Anderson were able to mark the hill that bugs used as a stronghold and take cover within the stairwell before Fleet dropped the bomb. Rico ordered Gossard to blow the church up before fleet arrived to take out as much bugs as possible. The church's bomb shelter held and although the whole drum room, roof, and ceiling were obliterated due to the force of the aftershocks, the body of the tower itself held-- barely.

But as we evacuated the sight and looked down at the broken city below, we realized what this war has become. There was the barely recognizable city of Beijing. The center of history and artifacts of one of the world's most populous, influential, and oldest civilization was gone. The millions of people, including the two who had come with us, will never be able to return to the home they had left.

In the end, the survival of a people's culture will no longer be rooted in old buildings, pictures, museums or cities. Instead, the next generation would have to be reminded by the survivors who carry their memory with them. People are, once again, what's important.

Robert Higgins:: The Roughnecks