think you're gonna like... The briefingplays on "head up" displays and the ready room screens. A captive BUG WARRIOR clicks and shrieks as FEDERAL SCIENTISTS torture it. The troopers cheer. OFFICIAL VOICE Everyday Federal scientists are looking for new ways to kill bugs and you can help... The head scientists turns and speaks to camera. It's Carl. Johnny and Dizzy share an amazed grin, noticing a difference in their old friend, something that speaks of... authority. CARL To defeat the enemy, we must know the enemy. Take for instance your basic Arachnid warrior. Minimal IQ, armored, completely lethal. You can blow a limb off... Carl picks up apulse gun and blows one of the bugs legs off. The insect screams. CARL ... and it's still 86% combat effec-tive. But here's a tip: Aim for the nerve stem and put it down for good. Carl fires again. The bug kicks and squeals as it dies. Carl tosses the pulse gun aside. CARL Now while you are out killing bugs, we want you to be our eyes and ears. The bugs use some kind of plasma burst to divert meteors and aim them toward Earth. We need to know how they do this. If you encounter any plasma, report it immediately to your superior. Good luck and good hunting ! The briefing ends as klaxons sound. P.A. (O.S.) This is the Captain speaking. All personnel prepare for drop.We are at D minus three and counting. LT. WILLY Move out ! Johnny and the other troopers climb into capsules on the port track. Dizzy gives him "thumbs up". The capsule seals as it moves with the others down the firing tube. 101 INT CAPSULE - JOHNNY gets the shakes as the capsule bumps and booms toward the firing tube. Lt. Willy appears on the "head up" display. LT. WILLY Smash the entire area, kill anything that has more'n a couple legs , and don't any of you loafers come back aboard with unexpended bombs. Get me ? JOHNNY ET AL Yes, sir ! FIRE CONTROL (O.S.) Five seconds... Sweat rolls down his face, hyperventilation... WHAM ! 102 EXT SPACE - KLENDATHU ORBIT - SILVER CAPSULES stream toward Klendathu from the rear tubes starships of Bull Run. We move down the line past Mannerheim, Dauntless, George Marshall, and Yamamoto to the Rodger Young. 103 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - CARMEN holds Rodger Young in tight maneuver. Suddenly, a burst of BLUE BUG PLASMA rips past the starboard bow. CARMEN Plasma, ma'am... from the planet. DELADIER Bug Batteries... According to Military Intelligence, it'll be random and light. Drop status ? ZANDER Drop is 35% complete, ma'am. Two more bursts of bug plasma streak past. DELADIER Steady as she goes, Number 1. 104 EXT KLENDATHU - HIGH ATMOSPERE - NIGHT - THE CAPSULES burn when they hit atmosphere, outer skin tearing away in big silver sheets. 105 INT CAPSULE - NIGHT - JOHNNY takes in ENTRY DATA from the heads up display. GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.) ...surface in twenty-fivr seconds ...LZ has been identified ...beacon is in place... 106 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - CARMEN watches nervously as deadly bursts of bug plasma fill the heavens around the battle group. Below, the surface of Klendathu fairly bistles with outgoing defensive fire. DELADIER This isn't random or light. Someone made amistake...! ZANDER That's it, we're empty ma'am ! Out the front screens, a blast from below hits George Marshall amidships and it reels into Yamamoto. Both starships begin to burn. DELADIER Someone made a big goddam mistake ! Get us out of here, Number 1 ! Carmen dodges past burning ships, avoids collision with Dauntless, and then KA-WHAM ! they're hit. Carmen flies out of her station and into CAMERA hard. 107 EXT KLENDATHU - CLOUD LAYER - NIGHT - THE SECOND SKIN tears away. Johnny is sitting on air. GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.) ...surface in fifteen seconds... deploying chute now... The chute pops. Across the sky, lit by outgoing bug plasma, he can see hundreds of cap troopers in ordered rows drifting down into the cloud layer. It's quiet in the clouds, then: 108 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - FROM THE AIR - JOHNNY looks down as he passes out of the clouds and sees the battlefield. Plasma blasts exploode into the sky. THOUSANDS OF BUGS boil out of the ground to defend against the invader. GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.) ...surface in five... four ... three... Johnny burns his chute off, drops the last hundred feet and lands on the bounce. 109 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - JOHNNY'S POV - THE FLASH PULSE of bug batteries, screaming voices on the com, concussions shaking the ground. None of it compares to the sound of his own racing HEARTBEAT. Lieutenant Willy shouts. LIEUTENANT WILLY Up there on the ridge ! We'll nuke those bug positions from theAAAAAAAA ! A HOPPER (an airborne Arachnid warrior with powerful rear legs and "pop out" wings for gliding) lands on Lieutenant Willy and cracks his head like a nut. ACE KILL IT ! Johnny and Ace open fire, backing away. Pulse rounds tear it apart, bug guts gushing. JOHNNY Lieutenant's bought the farm. Where's the Sarge...? ACE I didn't see him ! Now comes a flood of WORKERS building ever advancing fortifications, and with them, hundreds of deadly ARACHNID WARRIORS. KITTEN SMITH Here they come...! DIZZY Ace, what're we doing ? ACE I uh... uh... Dizzy and the others open fire simultanously. The whole area goes white hot in the magnesium flash of so many pulse cannons. Shujumi fires wildly at advancing insects. SHUJUMI You want some ? Here's some ! C'MON ! JOHNNY Don't waste your ammon on the workers ! Shujumi can't hear. A warrior finds him, rips his leg off, hurls him back into the waiting jaws of the oncoming bugs. SHUJUMI AAAAAAAAAAAA ! He fights, screaming. A claw reaches for his face, ripping the top of his head off. KATRINA Let's get out of here ! Now the ground opens behind her and a huge (6 meters) TANKER BUG lumbers out of the ground, it's funnel-shaped snout extruding above multiple eyes. DIZZY Look out ! The tanker bug sprays and hits Katrina. She screams, as her legs melt out from under her. KATRINA AAAAAAAAAAAAA ! Warriors converge to feed on her. Ace wants to help her, but Johnny blocks him. JOHNNY C'mon, Katrina was right. We gotta get out of here ! 110 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - JOHNNY and the other survivors on the bounce. The entire surface of Klendathu seems to be churning with insects as more and more bugs come to the surface to repel the invasion. JOHNNY It's a general retreat ! The boats are coming down. They come to the rear lines where the Net Correspondent and his CAMERAMAN are doing live coverage of the invasion. NET CORRESPONDENT We've just landed here on what cap troopers are calling the "Big K" with the 6th Mobile Infantery Division. It's an ugly planet, a bug planet, a planet hostile to life as we kow iGKKKKK ! The Correspondent is cut in half by a warrior. Johnny blows it away. JOHNNY C'mon, let's go ! ON THE BOUNCE ! The cap troopers move out. Kitten Smith looks up as a purple beacon streaks acroos thr sky. KITTEN SMITH I can see the beacon...! ACE Retrieval ! A hopper pounces on Kitten Smithm, and he goes down screaming. JOHNNY KITTEN ! Johnny touches down, stares in horror as Kitten Smith's head rolls past his fee. Johnny opens up with his pulse cannon. The hopper attacks, puts a claw right through Johnny's thigh. JOHNNY AAAAAAAAAAAAA ! Crushing jaws close around him, crushing, cutting his flesh. Johnny brings the muzzle of the pulse gun under the hopper's nerve stem and SPLAT ! blows its head apart. DIZZY Johnny ! JOHNNY ! WHERE ARE YOU ? JOHNNY ! Johnny...! But Dizzy can't find Johnny, and soon she's lost in the smoke. Johnny looks down at the terrible hole in his leg where bright arterial blood gushes. JOHNNY Medic... MEDIC...! Now two more Arachnid warriors close in on him through the enveloping smoke. He fires his pulse rifle empty, and dropping it, crawls desperately, dragging his useless leg. JOHNNY Oh, God... Oh, God, help me... please help me...! A third Arachnid warrior rears up in front of him, deadly jaws slashing down toward him, when suddenly it is blown to pieces in the blinding blast of a point-blank pulse cannon. VOICE (O.S.) Take my hand ! Johnny reaches out. A STEEL HAND takes his, dragging him back as bugs attack. His rescuers's pulse cannon thunders overhead. Bug parts fly as insects swarm in for the kill. FADE OUT 111 FROM THE FEDERAL NET - 100, 000 DEAD IN ONE HOUR ! Actual pictures of the battlefield, man and insect lying dead together on the blood drenched plains of Klendathu. OFFICIAL VOICE Crsisis for Humankind ! Fleet official admit they underestimated the Arachnid's defensive capability. Would you like to know more ? 112 SKY MARSHALL RESIGNS ! Retiring Sky Marshall Dienes salutes incoming SKY MARSHALL TEHAT MERU, 75, bfore a gathering of the Federal Council. OFFICIAL VOICE Accepting responsibility for Klendathu, Sky Marshall Dienes resigns. His successor, Sky Marshall Tahat Meru, outlines her new strategy. SKY MARSHALL MERU Until we understand the bug better, we must proceed with caution... We can ill afford another Klendathu. 113 SCIENTISTS SUSPECT MYSTERIOUS BRAIN BUGS ! FEDERAL SCIENTISTS display an organizational chart of the Arachnid species topped by a QUESTION MARK. OFFICIAL VOICE To explain the intelligent military actions of the Arachnids, Federal Scientists postulate the existence of a leadership caste...BRAIN BUGS ! 114 SOMETIMES LOVED ONES DIE FOR A GOOD REASON ! Names scroll by designated KIA, WIA, and MIA accordingly. OFFICIAL VOICE Families oof those who have died or become incapacitated by Federal Service are entitled to benefits ! If you see the name of a loved one, please do not call. A Federation official will call you. Would you like to know more ? 115 EXT FLEET BATTLE STATION TICONDEROGA - THE RODGER YOUNG limps to port, a huge chunk ripped out of its mid-section. Although stable, she flies inverted. CARMEN (O.S.) Ticonderoga, this is Rodger Young requesting approach vector... TICONDEROGA C&C (O.S.) Affirmative, Rodger Young...one zero zero niner five two... welcome back. 116 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - ZANDER AND CARMEN stare at the BATTLE-SCARED STARSHIPS and BURNT-OUT HULKS that line the docks of Ticonderoga. CARMEN You know, we're lucky to be alive. A bloody bandage wraps Carmen's head. Zander nods grimly. 117 INT RODGER YOUNG - GANGWAY - THE DEAD BODIES of CREWMEN and CAP TROOPERS are being off-loaded via conveyer belt. Zander and Carmen make their way up the steep companionway beside the ghastly conveyer belt. ZANDER Give me hand, willya ? Carmen takes his hand. Zander kisses her. ZANDER I was thinking. Maybe we should get married, Carmen. CARMEN You weren't thinking...you were dreaming ! ZANDER If we're gonna be a team, why not be a real team ? CARMEN There's a war on. I want a command, I want my own ship, you do, too... ZANDER So ? CARMEN So who's got time to get married ? Carmen lets his hand go and leaps through the hatch. Zander falls back onto the conveyer belt, finds himself eyeball-to-eyeball with a horribly maimed trooper, scrambles to get off. 118 INT BATTLE STATION TICONDEROGA - COMMON AREA - ZANDER joins Carmen in the crowded common area where dead bodies compete for space with wounded awaiting triage. Survivors watch casualty lists scroll ba on a Federal Net terminal. ZANDER Fleet encourages marriages among flight officers. You'd probably get a promotion out of it. CARMEN Funny... ZANDER I'm not kidding. Marriage is - CARMEN No, funny there's almost no wounded at all. ZANDER Hey, bugs don't take prisoners. Carmen looks at the words at the Net terminal: WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE ? She bites her lip, enters Johnny's name. In an instant, she has the news: RICO, JOHN D. - KIA CARMEN Oh no. Tears fill her eyes. ZANDER Carmen...? CARMEN Excuse me...! She rushes away. Zander looks at Johnny's name on the screen, shrugs, presses the ERASE button. 119 INT TICONDEROGA - CORRIDOR - ZANDER finds Carmen, sagging against a wall, weepimg. ZANDER I'm sorry, Carmen. CARMEN Please, I... Everybody's lost someone by now. This shouldn't be any different... Zander puts an arm around her. She holds on tight. CARMEN No, I... Oh, Zander, I'm a fool. ZANDER You're upset, that's alright. Zander kisses her hair. Tears roll down her face. CARMEN No, don't you see ? No one can wait for anything anymore... You're right... We should get married... Zander holds Carmen as she sobs, feeling lucky. DISSOLVE TO: 120 INT STASIS TANK - DAY CYCLE - JOHNNY'S BODY floats, suspended in fluid, mouth hanging open, his skin white as death. A low underwater KNOCKING wakes him. He opens his eyes and sees Ace and Dizzy outside the tank. Ace holds up a KIA list, pointing at Johnny's name, laughing: Rico, John V - KIA. Their voices are distant and garbled. Dizzy cups her hands against the side of the tank. DIZZY Two more days. Johnny's wounds are now mostly scars except for his leg where delicate robotic arms culture layers of new tissue. Johnny gives a weak thumbs up. The knocking sound continues. Johnny turns. A STEEL HAND taps the side of the tank. Johnny grins, astonished. The man wearing it is his former high school teacher, now a Lieutenant, Jean Rasczak. 121 EXT SPACE - AQZ - A BATTLE GROUP consisting of STARSHIPS, their tender, FREIGHTERS and other SUPPLY CRAFT. 122 INT TROOP TRANSPORT - M.I. QUARTERS - JOHNNY stows his gear along with Ace and Dizzy. Acroos the room, a collection of battle-hardened vets check out the newcomers. ACE Dizzy says you two knew this Rasczak character in Buenos Aires... JOHNNY He was our teacher... He was great. ACE Yeah, well, I hear he's a real nutbuster. DIZZY The Roughnecks killed more bugs than any other outfit in 2nd Brigade... Only took 15% casualties on Big K. They size up the Roughnecks. There are scars, power prosthetics, and one, big SUGAR WATKINS, 26, wears a bug claw on a chain around his neck. JOHNNY Seeing as how we're about all that's left of 1st Brigade, you'd have to call that an improvement. (to Sugar Watkins) You top kick ? SUGAR WATKINS Are you kidding ? They always get killed. You want the job ? JOHNNY I wouldn't mind. CORPORAL BIRDIE, 24, turns, gives Johnny the once over. BIRDIE I would. Nice earring. Dizzy looks her over. Not too big, but she's tough. DIZZY Where you been besides Big K ? BIRDIE Outer rings. Zegema Beach. JOHNNY I always wanted to go to Zegema Beach. SUGAR WATKINS Good luck. It's not there anymore. ACE Is your Lieutenant as bad as they say ? Birdie belts him, and Ace goes down. BIRDIE No one talks about the Lieutenant that way. He saved my life ! Ace jumps up, ready to fight, but other Roughnecks block him. SUGAR WATKINS Mine, too. OTHER ROUGHNECKS Same for me... me, too... Johnny and Dizzy shrug. Ace's on his own. ACE Sounds like he is quite a guy. SERGEANT GILLESPIE, 28, steps into the room. GILLESPIE Attention ! Everyone snaps to. Rasczak enters. RASCZAK This is for you new people. I only have two rules. Rule one, everyone fights. Rule two, no one quits. If you don't do your job, I'll kill you myself. Do you get me ? JOHNNY, DIZZY AND ACE We get you, sir ! He points at Johnny's earring with his steel hand. RASCZAK Get rid of the jewelry. I hate it. Welcome to the Roughnecks. BIRDIE Rasczak's Roughnecks ! The Roughnecks cheer. Rasczak smiles vaguely. RASCZAK Alright. There's a new Sky Marshall and a new plan. We're gonna clean out the systems outlying Klendathu one planet at a time. Tomorrow we hit Tango Urilla. After Fleet glasses the planet, M.I. mops up. 123 EXT TANGO URILLA - DAY - BUG WARRIORS stand sentry on earthworks that tower the entrance to their colony where an endless line of WORKERS enter bearing foodstuff appropriate to this exotic jungle planet. A distant sound. A warrior looks up, curious. Suddenly a FORMATION OF TAC FIGHTERS screams down from high orbit and a white hot nuclear firestorm burns consumes the landscape. Bugs scream as they twist and kick in the wall of flame. Heat melts the dirt into dark glass. Ash turns the sky red. The out of the smoke come Rasczak and his Roughnecks. RASCZAK Spread out, teams of three. When you locate a bug hole, secure it, gas it, and close it. 124 EXT TANGO URILLA - FLATS - DAY - TAC FIGHTERS streak by overhead. On the ground, Johnny, Dizzy and Ace are on the bounce. Ace spots a bug hole where workers and warrors have broken through the glassed surface. ACE There. Rockets take out warriors. Bug guts go flying. Dizzy sets workers on fire. Johnnx and Ace step over burning bug carcasses to the rim of the hole and fire their gas rounds. JOHNNY Fire in the hole ! Johnny drops an H.E. round, and they're in the air when the explosion collapses the entrance to the bug city. BIRDIE (O.S.) You new guys over there... WE could use some help... 125 EXT TANGO URILLA - MOUNTAINS - BUGS boil out of the ground. Birdie, Sugar Watkins and other Roughnecks are about to be overrun when Johnny touches down wuth Ace and Dizzy. JOHNNY Looks like you've got a little bug problem, ma'am... BIRDIE Stow it, trooper. Give it verything you've got ! The cao troopers let the bugs have it, but the insects keep coming, the living crawling over the dead, and now, trudging up out of the ground, comes a TANKER BUG. JOHNNY WATCH OUT ! The tanker bug starts to spray, creating a toxic perimeter around the hole. Rasczak arrives just as Birdie takes a chemical hit, falling to ground minus an arm, screaming. BIRDIE AAAAAAAAAAAAA ! Johnny jumps, landing behind the tanker bug in the mouth of the hole. It turns with surprising speed. Johnny flips up onto its back, cracks its armor with his pulse cannon. RASCZAK Sugar, in for pick up ! Rasczak and Sugar Watkins pull Birdie to safety. Johnny fires a rocket into the hole he's made in the tanker bug's back, and jumps clear. KA-WHAP ! The big bug explodes. RASCZAK Gas that hole and close it ! The Roughnecks fire gas rockets into the bug hole. Johnny touches down beside Rasczak. RASCZAK Where'd you learn to do that, soldier ? JOHNNY Uni High Tigers, sir. Don't you remember ? I was captain of the team. RASCZAK I'm not interested in nostalgia, Rico, I need a corporal. You're it until you're dead or I find someone better. Rasczak turns away, gives Birdie prosthetic thumps up as she is carried past to meet an arriving skimmer. RASCZAK Don't worry, Birdie, your next arm comes with a factory guarantee ! Dizzy and Ace gather around Johnny, clap him on the back. DIZZY Way to go, amigo ! JOHNNY I'm gonna need a squad leader. ACE No way. Big K taught me I ain't executive material. JOHNNY What about it, Diz ? DIZZY (a snappy salute) Looks like I'm your girl, sir. Tac Fighters reel by over head. WOMP ! Suddenly, BUG PLASMA shoots skyward from the flatlands below. Several Tac Fighters are blown out of the air. Flaming debris rains down. RASCZAK Saddle up, Roughnecks. That's our trash ! Roughnecks head out on the bounce. 126 EXT TANGO URILLA - RIDGE - DAY - JOHNNY and the others look down a sheer cliff on the bug battery, a charred circular pit some ten meters across. Inside, something is moving. JOHNNY What kind of stinkin' bug is that ? Johnny jumps the magnification on his "head up". Down in the pit, a giant translucent PLASMA BUG rears out of one of the subterranean tunnels that ring the battery. SUGAR WATKINS You never seen how they do it before ? Johnny shakes his head. Swollen BREEDER BUGS gather around the plasma bug to inject it with their catalytic jelly. ACE Agghh ! It's making me sick...! The plasma bug writhes in pain and begins to swell, color changing from yellow to blue in accordance with some violent internal chemical reaction. SUGAR WATKINS It's gonna pop ! WOMP ! The plasma bug explodes in its cauldron. A blast of bug plasma streaks past them towards the heavens. Now a new plasma bug crawls into the pit to begin the cycle anew. GILLESPIE Sir, look ! Sergeant Gillespie points. A hole opens near the battery and dozens of warriors rampage out of the ground and up the cliff face toward the Roughneck position. RASCZAK We must be right over the colony. Let's get some air support, eh ? GILLESPIE