| Season One | |
|---|---|
| 001
002 |
Pilot: Above and Beyond |
| 003 | The Farthest Man from Home |
| 004 | Darkside of the Sun |
| 005 | Mutiny |
| 006 | Ray Butts |
| 007 | Eyes |
| 008 | The Enemy |
| 009 | Hostile Visit (Part 1 of 2) |
| 010 | Choice or Chance (Part 2 of 2) |
| 011 | Stay With the Dead |
| 012 | River of Stars |
| 013 | Who Monitors the Birds? |
| 014 | Level of Necessity |
| 015 | Never No More |
| 016 | The Angriest Angel |
| 017 | Toy Soldiers |
| 018 | Dear Earth |
| 019 | Pearly |
| 020 | R&R |
| 021 | Stardust |
| 022 | Sugar Dirt |
| 023 | And if they lay us to rest... |
| 024 | ... Tell our moms we done our best |
| Cast: | |
|---|---|
| Morgan Weisser | Lt. Nathan West "King of Hearts" |
| Kristen Cloke | Lt. [ later Captain ] Shane Vansen "Queen of Hearts" |
| Rodney Rowland | Lt. Cooper Hawkes "Jack of Spades" |
| Joel De La Fuente | Lt. Paul Wang "Joker" |
| Lanei Chapman | Lt. Vanessa Damphousse "Ace of Hearts" |
| James Morrison | Col. Tyrus Cassius McQueen "Queen Six" |
| Created by: | |
| Glen Morgan & James Wong | |
| Info: | |
| "We thought we were alone. We believed the universe was ours. Until one night in 2063, on an Earth colony six light years away, they struck. And now, we're at war. My name is Lieutenant Colonel T.C. McQueen. I'm an In-Vitro, a race of artificially gestated humans. I command a Marine Corps squadron, the 58th. They call us the Wild Cards. We fight when called, in space, on land and at sea. To lose this war means more than defeat. To surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call, above and beyond." | |
Earth's first colony is wiped out by aliens, letting mankind know that he is not alone in the cosmos. First the advance team is decimated, and then the actual colony ship is damaged in orbit causing it to crash on the surface of the planet.We are introduced to the protagonists and follow them through their abreviated traiuning. See the cast listing to learn about the characters.
Earth declares war on the aliens since "We cannot move the Earth." Our protagonists are sent to Mars on a training excerise before their graduation. On Mars they repair a communications relay that has been damaged and then see an alien craft crash on the surface less than 20 km away.
The cadets inspect the sight and fight the surviving alien crew, eventually capturing a wounded alien; but losing one of their own:"Pags". The captured alien is killed since Damphouse takes pity on the alien, and gives it water. The water combines with the SO2 in the aliens life support system and creates sulfuric acid, killing it.
The cadets return to Earth to graduate and are given their inter/exo-atmospheric fighters and told to rendez-vous with their carrier at Jupiter. Hawkes is bitter aboput Pags' death and decides to avenge his death.
In Jupiter's orbit the new Lts delay the incoming alien fleet long enough for part of Earths Fleet to come do battle. Hawkes takes matters into his own hands and leads the aliens into the ambush since the projected flight path of the aliens does not match what Earth's intel has estimated.
The group is assigned the former commander of the Angry Angels, making them one of the more prestigious combat groups in the fleet. Upon their return to Earth, the Lieutenants are awarded a medal for defending Mankind. Nathan is still dismayed at the outcome of his life and his seperation from the woman he loves (who might be dead) and throws his medal away.
Planet Tellus
Farnax Star SystemAn Army APC lands with Special Forces, who inspect the reckage of the Tellus colony cutter. The Army finds a survivor claiming to be the farthest man from home. The Chiggers (Chigos, Chigs) arrive, interrupting any further search.
On the Saratoga, the 58th is relaxing and we find that Paul Wang is a big football buff. During the repartee among the wingers, the Army APC docks with the ship. West wonders aloud where it might have come from, and decides to go below decks and find out.
Below decks on the Saratoga, West sees someone unloaded under guard in a biohazard suit. He also sees one the colonial administrators (Suel). Nathan returns above decks for the breifing. The colonial administrator interviews the survivor and threatens him with re-education if he does not co-operate and tell them all that he knows. Suel aludes to the fact he knows more than any human should know about the aliens.
West tells the others about the situation and deduces that the fellow in the biohazard suit must have been a colonist survuivor. Nathan breaches security and visits the survivor while the rest of the 58th suit up for their mission. West finds out that Kylen has not "gone home" but is "very far from home". West takes flight gear from a combat readyness locker and steals his craft, heading for Tellus.
McQueen hints that someone should go after West. Nathan encounters an alien craft and destroys it with a multiheaded missile. Unfortunately, Nathan's craft is hit by debris and he will not have enough power to lift off from the surface. Vansen and Hawkes decide to help West and veer off course during their mission to go find him.
On Tellus, West finds a wind chime with the dogtags of the survivors. Among them is Kylen's tag with a message to "look to the highground". In the nearby foothills, West finds a burial cave with two survivors: Theresa Ashford and an unamed asian woman.
The Asian woman tells West where he might be able to find Kylen. He goes there and finds a prisoner of war camp. Hawkes and Vansen find West's Hammerhead, but Hawkes is hit by enemy fire and is forced to eject. Vansen calls the Saratoga with the info, and McQueen orders an APC to the site for extraction. The 58th is re-ordered to give air support.
West and Hawkes find each other and are immediately fired upon by the aliens. They head to the burial cave for cover, since the aliens wont enter the cave. Once in the cave, West identifies the sound of an APC landing. As the two surviors, Hawkes and West board the APC; West sees the ship from the POW camp take off. Nathan cries out to Kylen, whom he beleives is still on board the alien craft.
Upon the return to the Saratoga, the WIld Cards find that the incident they have just been involved in has been "compartmentalized" and that it never happened. It seems that someone pulled a string, and the 58th might very well end up being hung by it later.
Vasen's nightmare continue to haunt her, and she has premonitions about her own demise to the AIs. Hawkes wakes up the squadron with his antique CD player just as the action station gong goes off. McQueen enters and tells them to suit up and eat, they have a mission.On their way to the Icharus Mining Colony, the 58th destroys another space craft, suspecting that it was an AI ship. The Wild Cards land, and Wang throws a football wishing for the day that the asteroid has an expansion team.
The marines enter the mining complex and are attacked by unknowns. Two marines (Nelson and Woody) are killed, and the Wild Cards are forced to retreat back to their ISSCV. At the ISSCV, Vansen uses NightVision binoculars to discover that the AIs have taken over the complex.
Damphousse uses the Colony's computer network (accessed remotely on the ISSCV) to discover that the AIs have shutdown most of the life support systems. The marines plan an attack to retake the complex, but Vansen does not want to risk her people going back in to face her demons.
Finally, Vansen realizes that she has to do something, and OKs the attack. Another marine is killed as they re-enter the mining complex, forcing Vansen into near catatonia. West takes control and sends the rest of the B team to regroup with Gordon and Wang. West and Vansen go to the control center to try to reactivate the life support.
In the control center, Nathan and Shane find a semi active AI and learn that the marines have been captured. Using their computer interfaces, West discovers the location of the rest of the marines. During this process, West and Vansen's rage builds as they hear their comrades being tortured.
Hawkes plays blackjack with Feliciti to determine if the 58th goes free, or tells the AIs the ETA of the convoy. While they are playing, the AI that West and Vansen had contact with dies, increasing the stakes. If Hawkes loses, the marines die. Hawkes loses.
Vansen and West open fire on the AIs as they are about to start executing the marines. The marines escape, but are pinned down by suppressive fire. Vansen escapes, chasing after an AI; finally capturing it. Shane forces it to tell her that her parents died on the toss of a coin. In a rage, Vansen kills the AI and goes off to rescue her comrades killing as many AIs as possible.
Running out of both air and ammo, the marines start to get desperate. In a sudden exchange of gunfire, the noises around the marines stop. Vansen calls to the wingers and gets them to regroup. Looking around them, the marines realize that Vansen took on all the AIs herself. Against West's wishes, Vansen suits up and uses a shoulder launched SAM to destroy the AI ship.
Back in Vansen's dreams, she stil sees her family vulnerable to the AIs. She then knows that her nightmare is not over, and that it may never be. But things are no longer so bleak, she has taken control of her life.
The wild cards catch a ride on a civilian freighter to meet up with the Saratoga and eventually get home for some shore leave. The only path that will get them to the Saratoga in time will take them through a dangerous area of space between two unstable stars.On board, Hawkes finds out that the cargo ship has 168 unborn In-Vitros on board about to be shipped off to a radioactive mining station. He then meets the 'lower decks' of the crew -- all "Tanks".
When the ship is under attack by an alien destroyer, power systems fail leaving the ship defenseless. Unless power can be restored soon, the ship will be destroyed.
The Captain decides to cut power to the compartment where the In-Vitroes are stored, causing the Engineer and the rest of the lower decks to mutiny. They are outraged that more Tanks are going to be killed.
Hawkes finds out that his genetic sister is one of the tanks in storage below decks in section 46. He must make the decision to either save his sister and help the tanks, or support his comrades in their quest to save the ship and their lives.
The Engineer kills the Captain and First Officer, leaving the ship vulnerable. McQueen tries to take command of the ship, but only succeeds when Hawkes tells the other tanks to trust him to do the right thing.
Hawkes takes responsibility for his actions and shuts off section 46, killing 168 In-Vitros -- amonst them, his sister. He decides that killing 168 In-Vitros is the lesser of evils, rather than killing 400 humans by shutting the power to any of the other sections.
With the required power, the ship successfully defends itself against the alien destroyer. Hawkes goes down to section 46 and make peace with his demons. Looking into the chilled tank holding his sister, he sees what might have been.
When a LCol from the Recon Marines arrives on the Saratoga, McQueen is forced to hand over command of the 58th Wild Card Commando. LCol Butts is mysterious and angry at the world, he seems to enjoy taking out his anger of the crew and officers of the Saratoga.After giving the 58th minimal training, he loads up an ISSCV groups his team and leaves the Saratoga for parts unkonwn. During the flight, the Wild Cards realize that they will be performing tasks that they are not trained for: specifically a high altitude w/ oxygen (HALO) parachute jump into enemy territory.
Even after they land, LCol Butts is vague as to their mission. He mentions recovering some SA-43 Hammerhead fighters, but will not tell the team the details. He finally agrees to tell the Wild Cards what their mission will be after they hide their gear.
With their gear stashed, the wild cards return to the agreed upon grid-ref but Butts is not there. The 58th seraches for him, finding evidence of recent Chig presence in the area.
The Wild Cards come upon Butts digging graves with a field shovel. Finally, they find out that they are on a mission to bury the dead of Butt's team. He is responsible for their death, and did not want to leave their bodies desecrated by the Chigs (who fear the dead).
After a ceremony, the 58th and Butts recover the Hammerheads and leave the planet. They are attacked by Chig fighters around a black hole. Unable to defend themselves properly due to the proximity of the gravitational point source, the 58th is in serious trouble.
Butts decides to risk following the Chigs into the wash of the black hole. He is successful in destroying the Chigs, but is unable to escape the pull of gravity. He recalls the death wish of one of his team and turns on Johnny Cash as he is pulled into the vortex, and eventually destroyed by the tidal forces.
Back at the Saratoga, the 58th returns to the welcome of McQueen who has prepared a weepers meal: pancakes. The vacuum disposal is used to disperse the flapjacks into space where they float away. "Its as easy as eating pancakes."
The USS Saratoga returns to Earth for replensishing and crew leave. As the ship enters orbit, news of the assassination of the Secretary General of the UN reaches the ship, cancelling leave and putting the ship on alert.With the death of Spencer Chartwell, the Deputy -- Ambassador Nicholas Chaput, is the defacto leader of Earth. He represents a french political party known as the Partie Nationale D'Identite (Nationalist Identity Party), an ultra right-wing (neo-nazi?) group that wants to escalate the war aginast the chigs and does not wish to grant rights to in-vitroes.
The main opposition to his succeeding the Secretary Generalship is Ambassador Diane Hayden, a former in-vitro rights protestor and former board member of AeroTech.
The Ambassdors come onboard the Saratoga to elect a new Secretary General in relative safety. Formal parties greet the delegates, but the Japanese deegate notices Hawkes neck navel and officially reminds the Commodore that all in-vitroes must subimit to a loyalty test.
Among the delgates are a group of AIs lead by Feliciti 483. The silicates were invited by Diane Hayden. Diane Hayden has not yet arrived, but the 58th is sent to recover a cargo from Luna. Upon arrival at Luna, the 58th dicovers that Diane Hayden is their cargo.
LCol McQueen is interogated about his loyalty with a system reminiscent of Blade Runner's Voight-Compt test. He eventually refuses to answer any more questions as he feels his personal dignity is being sacrficed for no reason. He is locked up.
Hawkes is questioned and eventually injected with something causing him to see an image of the PNI logo (like a swastika).
A glitch in the approach to the Saratoga leads to a search of the ISSCV with the 58th and Hayden on board. A bomb is discovered and effectively disabled by Lt Swerko.
Upon he arrival on the Saratoga, Hayden goes to see McQueen. Its seems like they have known each other a long time. She thanks him for his sacrfice and agrees that he should not have to submit to the loyalty test. She then gives him pin with the PNI logo on it to remind him of the reason he should not give up.
Shaput meets with West and tells him about the colonies. he tells him that Aerotech knew about the aliens and sacrificed the colonists for reasons he does not know. After Shaput leaves the cabin, his aide de camp asks West to leave a hatch open on watch so that Shaput and Hayden can meet in private and in secret.
Hawkes goes to see McQueen and reveals signs of conditioning to his colonel. A distraught McQueen asks Hawkes to tell Ross that he will take the test to get out of the cell -- obviously to stop Hawkes from acting on the conditioning he was given.
On watch, West opnes the hatch as required but notices that Shaput and Hayden have adjacent cabins. Suspicious, he hides in the shadows of a ladder. Later, Sweko walks in and pauses at the hatch to Hayden's cabin, but he continues on towards Shaput's hatch. Shaput leaves his cabin oblivious to Sweko in the passageway.
West realises that Swerko is hunting Shaput down, and manages to get Shaput a chance to escape. Swerko and west fight their way through the ship towards the cckpit bay, where Swerko takes a helmet from a ready use locker and boards a hammerhead.
West fires into the cockpit bay, damaging the rear fuel intake of the ship that Swerko is trying to steal. As the cockpit merges with the actual fighter, a pressure differential caused by the fuel leak starts a fracture in the canopy of the fighter. Moments after launch the canopy fails, causing a rapid decompression that kills Swerko and causes the plane to flip head over heels.
The loyalty test interrogator goes to meet Hayden and tells her that the first operative has failed. He asks to activate the second operative, and she agrees.
Shaput's aide de camp leads him to an ISSCV for transport to a safer location. He tells Shaput that he will be right back, but to board the craft in anticipation of departure. Shaput boards the ISSCV only to find Hawkes there with a gun pointed at him. McQueen arrives and talks Hawkes down, discovering that Cooper was imprinted with the PNI logo as a target.
Shaput's aide de camp is arrested by MPs led by West. The aide de camp tells West that he was only trying to save the world from another monster. Wouldn't the world have been a better place without Hitler or Stranahan? West responds that it is the responsibility of all the people to make that decision.
Hayden (who's involvement in the whole plot is not discovered) gives formal thanks to the 58th for their involvment in halting this hideous plot. As she is about to present West with a medal, he stops her and asks for the truth about the colonists instead. In a state, she leaves the deck never presenting the medal or revealing her complicity in the plot against the colonists.
Damphousse is being interrogated for a preliminary investigation reguarding her actions on the last mission. She may be charged with:- Article 92: Failure to obey and order or regulation.
- Article 99: Misbehaviour before the enemy.Damphousse waves her rights, and makes a statement...
The 58th is en-route to Tartarus to make a cargo drop. The planet named for The Place Beyond Hell has been a war zone since the very beginning, and many mysterious things have happened there: a lot of MIA, friendly fire, etc.. A growing number of soldiers dont think it is worth fighting over, and that the Terran Forces should be pulling out -- not resupplying.
The Wild card's ISSCV is damaged and the flight deck crew killed during their insertion. Almost immediatly upon arrival on the planet, several marines run to the hatch seeking cover and asking to enter. As the 58th readies the airlock, anotther marine starts killing his platoon-mates from high ground.
The Wild Cards go out to capture and interrogate the rogue marine. The lone marine has gone mad with fear: "How afraid are you? I'm afraid of myself." In a fit of madness, he beings shooting wildly, and sets off a buzz-beam mine which cuts his into pieces.
The 58th makes a hasty retreat back to the ISSCV, but not before an incoming mortar detonates nearby; burning and nearly blinding them. Back in the ISSCV, the fears of the 58th come into play. Wang is distracted from radioing for help by a bug, and eventually destroyes the radio with his kbar. Damphousse freaks out at the sight of her blood, Hawkes' clausterphobia almost prevents him from keeping his helmet on (or puting it on for that matter).
West begins to hear the cries of a young woman (Kylen?) in the distance, and Vansen is almost paralyzed by here fear of the dark. Without a radio, the 58th is dead on this planet: a replacement up-link prong (prom? == EPROM) must be recovered from the portable radio of one of the marines outside carrying heavy order.
All the marines suit up and go back outside (except for Damphousse who has to fix her atmosphere suit). The personal fears become overwhelming, and the 58th bickers amongst itself. As Wang recoveres the PROM from a fallen soldier, West hears a woman's voice and wanders off. In his wanderings, West finds SGT Jackson sitting against a sheltering wall.
The 58th goes after West and finds him standing alone. West is convinced that there was someone here with him. As he is about to explain what he was told, the mist clears up and the Wild Cards can see the Marine bunker. Deciding to seek shelter and investigate the area, the 58th enters the bunker to find that its inhabitants have killed each other.
Disturbed by what they have seen, the Wild Cards return to the ISSCV; but are stopped from entering by a crazed Damphousse. The blood in the ISSCV has freaked her out and she has cornered herself into a bunk. The Marines break in to find themselves in Damphousse's sights.
Facing their fears, the 58th manages to repair the radio without killing each other and make contact with McQueen. McQueen takes his ISSCV down to the surface, but the only place to land is across the mine field from the Wild Cards.
In a rather agitated state, the Wild Cards make their way across the minefield. At the ISSCV, West again hears the sounds of a woman's voice; but is brought back by Vansen.
Back on the Saratoga, the Panel of Inquiry has stood down and decided not to pursue charges on any of the memebers of the 58th. Hawkes has obviously thought about the experience and explains, "The enemy was down there, but it wasn't the Chigs."
During a battle with the Saratoga and its support ships, and alien bomber is disabled. Instead of destroying it, LCol McQueen convinces Cmdre Ross to capture and examine the ship; perhaps allow Earth to learn something of the Chigs.The 58th is dispatched in an ISSCV to board and examine the ship. During their inspection, they find one last surviving Chig and it is killed. Hawkes pulls off its faceplate armor, revealing a disolving/bubbling face -- the atmosphere pumped into the bomber must be reactive to the biology of the alien.
The Chig Bomber is towed into a docking facility where it is to be examined. When the WIld Cards (lead by McQueen) finally get to the docking bay to see the vessel, West notices that the crew dissecting the ship are AeroTech personnel. Sewell is in charge of the whole project.
McQueen makes his plea to use the bomber as a TROJAN HORSE and payback the chigs for their attacks. He beleives that it would be good for the war effort, and might actually turn the war around. And now that Earth knows the location of the Homeworld (in the Cerus(?) system) its time we started giving what we've been getting.
Ross agrees to the mission, over the protests of Sewell who thinks that the information should not be public knowledge, and that the ship should not be wasted on such an effort. Sewell wants the ship to remain for dissection.
After Sewell insults McQueen, Ross throws the "little geek" off the ship. Unknownst to the everyone, Sewell takes the flight data required to fly the ship leaving the 58th 15 days to figure out how to fly the bomber.
After 5 days of figuring out how to fly the bomber, the naval staff on the Saratoga discover that the window to get to the Chig homeworld is closing 10 days earlier than predicted. The 58th must leave the next morning if they intend to continue with their mission.
McQueen pleads with Ross to allow him on the mission, and Ross finally agrees. The Commodore gives McQueen his guitar pick for good luck, "Its as is I was going with you."
The 58th peforms a ritual of the Kamikaze pilots, and clip their finger nails into a plain wooden box for burial back home, the mission looks hopeless with the lack of preperation -- but they intend to do it anyways.
The next morning the 58th prepares to leave, but Wang is not present. McQueen leads the Wild Cards into the bomber. Cmdre Ross approaches an gives them his best wishes; West in return gives Ross the box with the nail clippings. Wang arrives on the scene and contributes his clippings and says that they'll go out together.
As they board the bomber, Vansen asks Wang if he is wearing "the shirt". He replies that he isn't, he got lucky without it last night. Wang's love interest arrives an tells Wang that she has a present for him; when he gets back.
The Wild Cards are underway to the Chig homeworld when they encounter a squadron of alien fighters. The alien IFF system works, and they are uninterrupted on their way in.
As the 58th in Chig Bomber approach the habitable planet in the system, they meet a sentry ship; which West destroys proclaiming, "They have to know we are here sometime, open wide you Chig bastards..."
In the atmosphere (during their bombing run), the ship meets heavy resistance and begins to fail. The missile cluster launched by the 58th misses its intended mark, and ship beings to die. The Wild Cards are forced to evacuate in an escape capsule.
Back at the Saratoga, the bridge loses contact with the Wild Cards and nothing the CCR can do can get a clean signal to determine their fate. The Saratoga would have to be within fighter range to get a decent reading, which is too great a risk to recover 6 officers.
Sewell returns to the bridge with orders from the Joint-Chiefs. He convinces Ross to go to the system and get the Wild Cards back since he tells the Commodore, "you are aware that I know."
Part I of II
This show leaves off after the Chig Bomber is destroyed an the escape capsule crashes on the surface of a planet.Hakes and McQueen wake up after the crash. McQueen exits to scout the surroundings, and Hawkes tries to help Vansen who is pinned under some debris.
McQueen returns and tells Hawkes to come and leave them, Chigs are on their way. Hawkes protests, but eventually sees the logic in escaping to help the others later.
The 58th is brought into a prison camp by AIs; when West sees Kylen in a prison cell. This leads to a minor skuffle where West is detained seperately from the others; similarly Wang is seperated and strapped to a table for interrogation.
Through the interrogation with Elroy, we learn that the Earth invaded first (the colonies?) and that the Earth attacked first (AetoTech?). After a brief lecture, Wang is tortured with being questioned.
McQueen and Hawkes seperate briefly in the field. McQueen gets weapons and Hawkes reconoitres the area. They meet up again and make their way back to the camp to help the others escape.
Kylen contacts West and they escape from the camp, killing an AI and one of the other prisoners. As they make their way through the woods, West becomes suspicious of Kylens questions.
Wang breaks under the torture and makes a prepared statement for the Chigs and AIs. Vansen and Damphousse are given the dillema of coosing who will live and who must die. As they discuss the problem, they realize that they are like mice -- and they are being examined for their responses. They decide to give the AI and Chigs "what they want".
West leaves Kylen, suspicious of her emotions and (or lack thereof). McQueen and Hawkes break into the prison complex. Vansen and Damphousse feint their captors and manage to escape. Elroy is about to execute Wang, but is stopped by Hawkes. Wang stops Hawkes from killing Elroy, only to kill the AI himself.
The 58th is reunited in the passageways of the prison camp (less West who is still outside). As they make their way outside, they meet up with West and are placed undefire by the AIs. The marines are victorious. Kylen then shows up from the woods, asking West to have Vansen, Cooper and the rest of the marines join him and follow her to safety. West walks up to Kylen and shoots her.
The rest of the marines are in shock. West turns to them and tells them that he never told her their names. As they begin to assess their situation, an ARMY APC arrives disembarking some marines.
The 58th gets in the APC, and the marines go into the camp for some houseclearing. The marines return (one with a package) as the 58th is dressing its wounds. Wang is very shook up.
The Wild Cards return to the Saratoga to a hero's welcome. Wang is distraught and ignores the attention, making his own way out. Sewell meets the marince with the package, and opens it... illuminating himself with a red light.
Part II of II
Nathan West is brought back to the Saratoga by medical evac. He has cracked ribs and head trauma. As he is brought to preop ward, Nathan hears that no more are coming: he is the only survivor from the 58th.McQueen arrives in West's postop cabin and is present when Nathan finally awakens. West's first act is to ask from something to write with, on which he asks: "58?" McQueen tells him: "You know, you know."
West flashes back...
The 58th is aboard an ISSCV, they are med-evacing the teams that was supposed to med-evac the first insertion team. On the planet, the Wild Cards find the remains of the 61st. The Chigs had booby-trapped the survivors.
The Chigs ambush the 58th as they examine the remains of the 61st. During the funeral for 58th, West relives his attempt to cover the escape of his wingers.
West tells McQueen that he can see them -- the 58th. He keeps on hearing "stay with the dead", and he is sure it means something. McQueen tells him that is it survivor's guilt.
Later, as West flashes back to the corpses of the 61st strewn over the landscape and strung to trees, he freaks out in the sickbay. The doctors recommend that he be treated for his post traumatic stress disorder -- a mind wipe.
West makes his way back to the 58th's mess deck and examines the belongings of his team mates. As he does so, he has recollections of them. His time is interrupted by a crew member that has come to collect the belongings of the 58th for distribution back to their families.
West is brought into surgery for mind wipe, and he flashes back to the planet. He remembers that he was used as a decoy with the rest of the 61st in the uniforms of the 58th. He convinces McQueen to check out his story, and the 58th is found.
Wang reminisces about another earlier wartime christmas, in which British, French, and German soldiers had left their WWI trenches to celebrate the holiday peacefully in no-man's land, in sharp contrast to the 58th current predicament. The 58th and several other units, each in ISSCVN's, are battling a group of chig fighters on Christmas Eve. The 58th takes a hit to their main port engine, sending them into a spin, and carrying them away from the battle.After shutting off the engine, and spending the last of their thruster fuel to stop the spin, the 58th pauses to take stock of their situation. Meanwhile, McQueen watches the returning ISSCVN's and when his kids fail to come home, he tries to determine what happened to them from talking to the other ISSCVN crews.
With the main computer down and the radio on recieve-only mode, the 58th has no way to relay their position, and to make matters worse, they have to shut down most of their systems just to conserve what power and air they have left. They can hear McQueen as he sends them a message to hold on, that SAR (search and rescue) operations will be carried out in the Procyon region. McQueen convinces Ross to allow him 3 SAR teams to search there. Unfortunately, Wang determines that they were knocked out of the Procyon region in the firefight, and into the Eridanus region. The 58th is in no-man's land, drifting towards enemy territory.
While they are waiting for rescue, Shane gives out Christmas presents to everyone, which she had been hiding in the ISSCVN. They discuss the meanings of Christmas and faith. McQueen transmits the Apollo 8 Christmas message to his kids whi le the SAR teams search.
Both the 58th and McQueen on the Saratoga recieve 2 messages of unknown origin, one detailing the location of a comet the ISSCVN is on a collision course with, and the second telling them how to hitch a ride with the comet, which is headed in the general direction of the Saratoga. While Wang alters the pointing of the damaged engine during a spacewalk, McQueen convinces Ross to send an SAR team to the comet's position in the hopes of finding the 58th. Once the engine is repaired, the 58th begins preparations for orbital insertion.
The Navy LC convoy finds the 58th orbiting the comet, and once again aboard the Saratoga, the 58th again discusses the meaning of faith. The episode ends with Wang presenting McQueen with a token of faith, showing that the 58th has faith that McQueen will always be there for them.
Two people in breathing gear rise out of the water, move silently through the jungle, and ambush a small Chig patrol. After making sure that the Chig leader, marked in red, is dead, the two human figures move away and signal for extraction. One of the two is then shot and killed. The other runs, but is wounded and falls to the ground.Hawkes, watching helplessly as the attacking Chigs butcher Major John Colquitt, flashes back:
Hawkes and the rest of the 58th are practicing at the Saratoga's shooting range while Major Colquitt looks on.When the three Chigs move towards Hawkes, he sits up and shoots two of them before his gun jams. He takes out his K-bar and takes on the remaining Chig, killing it. He realizes then that he has been wounded in the head in the earlier attack, and as he moves back towards Colquitt, he flashes back to:Colquitt offering him an honorable discharge in return for undertaking this secret mission to the planet Tigris to kill the Chig leader (in red), who is believed to have been in charge of the attack on Vesta. Regardless of whether Hawkes accepts the mission, it does not exist. If he chooses to go on the mission, the 58th will be given no reason for his absence.Hawkes buries Colquitt, treats his own wounds, and moves off, pausing only to signal for extraction again. However, before he can make it to the pick-up point, he is shot at by another Chig patrol. He drops the signaling device, and cannot pick it up before he has to make a run for it. He dives into a nearby body of water. Underwater, he flashes back to ...His own birth at the In Vitro facility.He rises out of the water, gasping for breath. An explosion at the water's edge sends him running for cover. More shelling occurs, and a glance at his watch shows that he has missed the extraction point. Another flashback:Hawkes and his fellow young In Vitros are watching a slide show at the In Vitro facility. The class is eerily silent throughout. Today's lesson begins ...Hawkes, still running from the shelling, runs into a lone Chig and kills him with his bare hands. He picks up the Chig gun, but cannot get it to work, so he makes his way back to where he buried Colquitt and unearths Colquitt's gun. As he pauses in a moment of weakness, he sees a mysterious and seductive female, who beckons and whispers "Come to me."He backs away from her hurriedly, and again makes his way through the jungle until he runs into 2 more Chigs. He shoots them, and because one of them was carrying his signaling device, he recovers it, but it tells him that the satellite is out of communications range. He holes up to wait. Two quick flashbacks occur, one of him leaving in the middle of the night while the 58th are asleep, and the second ...
Hawkes looks out through the bars on the windows of his In Vitro school dormitory at a bird in flight with a look of innocent wonder on his face. Then we see him in the classroom fearfully asking the Monitor the fateful question.Hawkes sees a Chig near his hiding place, but when he notices the Chig watching an alien bird in flight, he does not kill him.After several more flashbacks involving how and why he left the In Vitro school, and another encounter with the mysterious female who warns him of approaching Chig patrols, Hawkes is on the run again.
Hawkes runs into a lone Chig. He starts to kill him with his bare hands, but hears and/or sees a shell coming and hurls himself and the Chig down an incline. When he comes to a stop, he pulls his knife to kill the Chig, but the Chig holds up his hands in surrender and gives Hawkes his breast plate id. Hawkes gives the Chig his ring and they part.
Hawkes is still on the run, but when he sees that he has left a trail of blood, he sets up an ambush for his trackers, and accidentally kills the Chig he exchanged tokens with.
Soon it is night, and the female is back, showing him a Chig ship landing, silhouetted against the moon. She invites him to come with her, and he starts to, until his extraction device signals. When he tries to leave, she attacks him, and we see one small segment of the fight showing him fighting with thin air. Afterwards, he gets up slowly and wanders listlessly towards the water.
In breathing gear at the waters edge, he pauses to rip up his discharge, then sinks into the water. The reflection of the twin moons shimmer on the water, then steady.
150 meters below the surface, the 58th are crawling through tunnels when they run across another squadron, whose captain orders the 58th to follow them into a new tunnel. However, Damphousse sees Captain Kremens surrounded by a colored aura and senses danger. She restrains the 58th from following the captain, thereby saving them from a Chig booby-trap, which claims the lives of all but one of the 46th squadron.Back on the Saratoga, Damphousse tries to explain to McQueen what she saw, and he files a report citing anomalous intuition as the reason behind her actions. Meanwhile the 58th discuss the nature of intuition.
A shuttle arrives with Col. Matt Burke, who grills Damphousse about the recent mission, her personal life, and the reported anomalous intuition. he subjects her to various tests designed to find and/or measure psychic abilities. In order to test her further, he has the 58th assigned to another mission in the tunnels.
The 58th enters the tunnels to try to find and destroy a Chig ammo dump. In the tunnels on the way to the ammo dump, Lubin is killed, and Damphousse predicts that one more of them will die. They find the ammo dump and set the charges, but Damphousse has trouble making it back to the rendezvous point. Col. Burke tries to save her, and is shot. Damphousse and Hawkes drag Burke out just as the charges go off. The tunnels fill with flames just as the 58th get out, but Burke dies after telling Damphousse that he had seen the colors (aura), too.
Back aboard the Saratoga, Damphousse and McQueen again discuss her anomalous intuition and what responsibilities it carries.
Vansen stares out of a window in the Saratoga's Tun Tavern at a full moon, while Patsy Cline's song Never No More plays in the background.While on the way to the Saratoga, Jennifer Brandt and her squadron, the 42nd, get killed by a mysterious new alien fighter-craft, which is flying solo.
In the Tun Tavern, Hawkes, West, and McQueen are taking part in a poker game at one table, while Vansen, Damphousse, and Winslow have a discussion at another table. Then Captain Oakes walks in, and Vansen goes over to console him over the loss of Lt. Brandt. Meanwhile, Sullivan of the 35th talks about the new alien fighter, dubbed Chiggy von Richtofen (CvR), at the poker table.
Ross sends two pilots out to deploy a recon. satellite, and denies the rumors about CvR, but the pilots soon get toasted by CvR anyway.
In a subsequent briefing, Ross requests a squadron to volunteer for a classified mission (to deploy another satellite). Captain Oakes and Vansen vie for the job, then when the 35th is assigned to it, Vansen volunteers to fill in their vacant slot.
She then experiences a flashback to:
Vansen and Oakes are walking along the beach at her high school graduation party, where he proposes to her. She refuses, saying she wants to wait and see ...After the briefing, McQueen questions the Brass in the conference room about CvR, and about revealing its existence. The Brass want to keep CvR a secret, and talk about how it would effect the planned attack on the Chig homeworld.As the 35th are preparing their planes for the upcoming mission, Oakes talks strategy with Vansen, and about why she volunteered to accompany him. Later, as she is preparing to leave, Hawkes gets upset and confronts her about her seeming change of loyalty. As she is settling into her cockpit, McQueen risks a court-martial to tell her secretly about CvR, while Hawkes and West watch her leave from an observation bay. The 35th launch and travel to Helios to deploy the satellite. Vansen sees her lidar glitch up, and then the shadow of CvR in the cloud-tops. CvR takes out most of the 35th, while Vansen tries to warn the others. She nicks CvR with a missile, buying enough time for herself and the remaining members of the 35th to escape.
When they get back to the Saratoga, Vansen and Oakes argue about what went wrong, and McQueen breaks it up, and drags Shane off to make a report to the Brass. She describes CvR to them.
Back in the Tun Tavern, Shane leaves a poker game to talk with Oakes. They discuss the mission, their past relationship, and they dance to the title song.
Ross briefs the squadrons stationed on the Saratoga on CvR, and sends them all out to take CvR out of his sky. Oakes flies out with the 58th this time, as 15 squadrons leave the Saratoga en masse. The "Fighting Finns" get toasted first. Then the 58th, the next nearest squadron, engage CvR. Oakes gets clipped, but not killed, as the 58th engage the enemy, but as CvR locks on Vansen, Oakes rams him.
Later, in the now-quiet Tun Tavern, McQueen has to inform Vansen that the SAR (Search and Rescue) teams found no remains of CvR, and hands her official notification of Oakes death. The last scene mirrors the first, with Vansen staring out the tavern window at the moon.
Part I of II
McQueen, in his opening monologue, talks about who he is, and about facing the defining moment in his life.Sewell returns to the Saratoga aboard an ISSCV with the suitcase of glowing material, and explains to the Brass the nature and uses of "Sewell fuel", and tells them that Chiggy von Richtofen (CvR) already uses it. They discuss building a missile, and finding a way to deploy it against CvR.
Later in the Tun Tavern, Wang, West, Damphousse, and Hawkes play Chig fooseball, while Vansen and Winslow are in deep discussion at another table. However, when first Winslow and then Wang get too familiar with him, McQueen blows up at them and storms out. We see him later in his quarters while he works on a strategy for deploying the missile, which he then presents to the Brass in the conference room. He asks to be the one to fly the mission, and is refused because of his grounded status. They then discuss the reason for his grounding, and the possibility of re-instatement.
In the meantime, Sewell goes to see the missile as it is being worked on, and gets toasted in a lab fire, which is later determined to be due to sabotage.
Winslow later goes to McQueen's quarters to apologize to him for her part of the scene in the tavern, and then the conversation turns to his former marriage.
As the missile is being readied a second time, an intruder is discovered, and the missile suddenly goes hot. The 58th chase the intruder, and catch him trying to hijack an ISSCV -- it is another Elroy-L model. McQueen and Wang interrogate him, and McQueen tortures him to get the location of CvR.
McQueen undergoes the operation to have the MEF device removed from his inner ear, and combats vertigo to try and regain his flight status. However, Ross believes that he is not well enough to fly and assigns deployment of the missile to a Col. Schrader, who will use the 58th as bait. The 58th flies out to find CvR, who kills first Col. Schrader, and then Winslow, as the 58th flee.
While the 58th prepare to attend Winslow's funeral, McQueen dresses in his Angry Angels gear, preparing to go after CvR. Ross tries to talk him out of it, but does not succeed. The chaplain tells McQueen to make peace with his Maker, and gets a blisteri ng response from McQueen.
In cleverly alternating scenes, McQueen fights CvR while the 58th attend Winslow's funeral. McQueen then nurses a bottle of scotch alone in the Tun Tavern, as he contemplates his defining moment.
Part II of II
"The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in battle. He saw his salvation in such a change."Nathan's brother Neil West has enlisted in the Marine Corps. Private West is then assigned, along with his infantry unit (5th Force Recon), to the Saratoga. Nathan is afraid that his brother does not understand what he signed up for, and tells Neil he should have stayed in college. He still thinks of Neil as the little brother he played football with.
Stephen Crane [The Red Badge of Courage]Neil's commanding officer, Herrick, is a green Second Lieutenant, who volunteers his men for an assignment they are not ready for, in the hopes of gaining personal glory. The 58th and 5th are sent on a recon mission to the planet Mors.
"For God's sake, give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself."Once on the ground, the 58th and 5th dig in not far from each other, and settle in to begin their recon mission. They see a Chig C-3 communications tower, and Vansen and Herrick argue about blowing it up. Nathan arranges a meeting midway between their locations with Neil, but their communications channels are open, and Herrick overhears Nathan warning Neil that Herrick is a loose cannon. Herrick takes this as a challenge and convinces his unit to follow him to blow up the C-3 tower in the name of honor and glory.
Robert Louis Stevenson"He conceived persons with torn bodies to be particularly happy. He wished that he too had a wound. A red badge of courage."The 5th go to blow up the C-3 tower, but discover it is a fake and come under heavy fire. They manage to find a Chig wall to hide behind temporarily, but Herrick wants to engage the enemy. Vansen and West try to talk him out of it, but Herrick uses honor and glory rhetoric to convince his men to attack the enemy, rather than fall back. In the ensuing charge, several are killed or wounded, including Herrick. They hide behind the wall again, almost out of ammunition.
Stephen Crane [The Red Badge of Courage]"We are all dead men on leave."An extraction team is on its way, but the 5th is under heavy attack, and the 58th try to help. They move towards Neil's position, but can only advance slowly. Soon only Neil is left standing. Eventually the air cover arrives, but by the time Nathan uses the cover to get to Neil, Neil is dead.
Eugene Levine [Men in Dark Times]"So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed."
Stephen Crane [The Red Badge of Courage]
An ISSCV arrives aboard the Saratoga with mail from Earth. Everyone gets something. Wang gets a package from his parents with a book and a piece of sod from Wrigley Field. Damphousse gets a 12-page letter from her fiancé. Nathan gets a letter from his parents, and learns that they have not yet been notified of his brother's death. Vansen gets a video message from her sister Anne, relating her pregnancy and decision to call the girl Marion, in memory of their mother. After standing on the fringes and discussing the fact that In Vitros never get mail, both Hawkes and McQueen get letters as well, stating the military's intention to make a documentary about In Vitros in the military. Ross takes time out from playing his guitar to explain to McQueen why the documentary is necessary.McQueen briefs the 58th on a mission to take out a Chig supply depot and reads them the riot act over complaining about ground combat missions. The 58th takes an ISSCV to the planet Memnon and drills into the ventilation shafts for the depot in order to drop explosives down them. However, there are problems. Hawkes is stuck with the new member of the 58th, Hill, who does not like In Vitros. Meanwhile, Damphousse and Wang come under fire from Chigs, and Damphousse gets pieces of glass from her night vision goggles embedded in her corneas. Fearing that she might not make it back alive, she entreats Wang to read to her the last part of the letter from her boyfriend, only to find out that it is a Dear Jane-type letter.
Upon the 58th's return from the mission, they are confronted by the documentary camera crew in the loading bay, while Damphousse is taken to the medical unit. Later, in the rec. room, Hawkes tries to bluster for the cameras and pretend that he is more adept socially than he really is, while ignoring Hill's racist comments. When McQueen walks in, the camera men converge on him, and Hawkes listens soberly while McQueen relates an incident from the AI wars.
Damphousse learns that her eyesight will recover. Vansen tries to place a personal call, and finds that she will have to barter to get a better spot in line if she wants to talk to her sister before the baby is born. West argues with Ross over a form letter to be sent to his parents notifying them of his brother's death. Vansen finds out that she has been promoted to Captain, but is still more worried about placing a video phone call to her sister. She arranges a barter to use the phone, and is in time to see her niece being born.
The episode starts with the 58th on the planet Minerva, taking heavy fire from a group of Chigs. They soon have to retreat and radio for extraction. The extraction point, however, is 100 km away, and Shane is injured, so the 58th commandeers a tank (the mechanical variety) nicknamed Pearly. However, they also have to put up with Pearly's driver, Sgt. "Louie".They travel in the tank for a while, until Louie detours Pearly around a probable Chig booby-trap, only to drive straight into an anti-tank ditch. While Louie starts to fix the broken tread, they meet the man who dug the ditch -- a British soldier. Major MacKendrick of the Coldstream Guards has been alone on Minerva since his battalion was wiped out at the Battle of Mandrake Ridge, 8 months before. He invites them into his bunker while Sgt. Louie fixes the broken tread on Pearly.
The 58th becomes suspicious of the Major when he accurately predicts an attack by Chig fighters, whose strafing kills Sgt. Louie. Col. McQueen insists that the Major accompany them to the rendezvous point.
After burying the Sgt., they set out for the rendezvous point once more, and Col. McQueen sends out Wang, West, and Hawkes on foot to scout the area. Wang, however, is ambushed by an Elroy-L model, the 3rd he has encountered so far. When Wang accidentally gives away the information that he has been tortured before by an Elroy model, the current Elroy promises to erase Wang's taped Kasbek confession in return for a power cell needed to restore a Felicity-O unit to working order. The 58th, however, needs this power cell to drive Pearly to the rendezvous point on time. When Wang gets back to the APC (Pearly), he hides the spare power cell from the others.
The theft of the power cell is soon discovered, and Col. McQueen accuses Major MacKendrick of taking it. Wang has the opportunity to correct this mistake and does not, as McQueen has MacKendrick tied up. While the 58th recharges the drained power cell using a solar array, MacKendrick and Hawkes discuss the nature of being alone and of MacKendrick's role in the war. Meanwhile, Wang sneaks off to take the power cell to Elroy, and a suspicious West follows. Wang and Elroy struggle while Felicity is hooked up to the power cell, draining it. As West comes over the hill after him, Wang makes up a story about finding the power cell, but West does not buy it, and finds a piece of AI circuitry on the ground near where the struggle took place. When they get back to the others, West forces Wang to confess to the theft of the power cell.
Around a campfire, Wang pours out the story and his soul to the rest of the 58th, and apologizes to MacKendrick.
The 58th travel overnight, and near dawn are attacked by a Chig armored tank. Wang figures out that the Chigs were using the AI device West picked up to home in on Pearly. The 58th, with limited resources, attempts to fight back. Wang jumps out the back with a rocket launcher to attack the Chig tank from another angle, and manages to destroy the tank, only to be attacked by Elroy. MacKendrick then takes out Elroy with Pearly's turret guns just as Elroy is about to shoot Wang.
The 58th makes it to the rendezvous on time, but MacKendrick stays behind with Pearly, to try to make a difference in the war in the way that he has chosen for himself.
The 58th is on patrol in their hammerheads. West falls asleep at the controls, almost colliding with another of the 58th, and Hawkes reports seeing things. They are all exhausted from too many missions and not enough sleep. When they get jumped by three Chig fighters, West cannot get to Hawkes in time to prevent him from being injured, due to a low response time, but does manage to finally take out the alien fighters.Hawkes makes it back to the Saratoga on autopilot, where he is given a painkiller (phyllophetamine, or "green meanies") by mistake which is known to be highly addictive among In Vitros. The rest of the 58th catch up on some much needed sleep, except West, who has trouble getting to sleep because he feels guilty about not being there for Hawkes.
McQueen convinces Ross to allow the 58th some time off, and they are allowed to go to the Aerotech-run pleasure ship, the Bacchus. However, a new problem arises when McQueen realizes that Hawkes is hooked on the phyllophetamines. He tells Hawkes that he was also hooked on them in the past, and that he will help him break the addiction.
Once aboard the Bacchus, the 58th meet its host, who explains the philosophy behind the Bacchus. They exchange flight suits for civilian clothes, and begin to split up: Vansen gets involved in a high-stakes pool game with the AI Handsome Alvin, West convinces a woman named Suzie to be "nice" to Hawkes (who is clueless about sex), Damphousse and Wang discover a mutual attraction, and Col. McQueen goes off to watch W. C. Fields videos.
Hawkes discovers that Suzie is an In Vitro, is also addicted to the "green meanies", and then later learns that she has a baby to take care of. She tells him that being a prostitute is the only way she can make enough money to support herself and the child.
The 58th are suddenly recalled to duty, and sent to the planet Ifus. They come under heavy fire, and start behaving as though they were still aboard the Bacchus. Hawkes is obviously still addicted to the phyllophetamines, Vansen is more concerned over a stuffed teddy bear than the danger she is in, and McQueen looks over to see Damphousse and Wang kissing. He gives them all a lecture about not being on R&R any longer, that it is not every man for himself. The 58th pulls it together long enough to get to safety.
Back aboard the Saratoga, Hawkes is given the choice of going through detox and remaining with the 58th, or being shipped back to Earth to a desk job. He chooses to try and tough it out, with a little help from the only family he has ever known.
James Darkmoon is about to be executed for the murder of Army Lt. General Louise Elizabeth Smith, and after making a short statement, he is put to death by lethal injection.A strange ISSACP approaches the Saratoga and radios in the security password ³Changing Woman². Ross is awakened from a sound sleep with this news by the officer on watch, and promptly places the Saratoga on full security alert, confining everyone to quarters until further notice. A strange group of soldiers exit the ISSACP with a cryogenic capsule containing the body of Jimmy Darkmoon.
The 58th wake gradually to the realization that 05:30 has come and gone without reveille being sounded. West tries the door, which is locked, and realizes that ³general quarters² have been ordered. A few minutes later reveille is sounded and they suit up for a flight, only to realize that they are locked out of their hanger bay. Even McQueen is in the dark. Then he is handed a note saying that their mission has been scrubbed, and orders them back to their quarters.
Ross and the visiting General Ranford turn out to be old friends, and they discuss old times, Ira Hayes (WWII Native American soldier), and the dead redeeming themselves. We learn that General Ranford is newly promoted to head Intelligence, and they discuss an ultra-secret mission to see whether Chig Intelligence is a result of surveillance or a traitor.
Later, in the Tun Tavern, the 58th wonder what is going on, and when Col. Klingman walks into the bar, Vansen sends Hawkes over to pump her for information, but the Col. freaks him out by reciting his service record from memory. Then Vansen and West sneak into the hammerhead bay to see if their planes were tampered with, and Shane finds a strange black device in her hammerhead¹s controls. Before their next mission, the 58th all remove the devices from their cockpits. The 58th are ordered to rendezvous with an APC in friendly territory and escort it to an unknown destination. However, they get no verbal response from the APC, and it begins doing odd things: almost running into them, shooting at 3 targeting drones, and then shooting at them. The shoot back and take out an engine, sending the APC spinning, and return to the Saratoga.
Upon reaching the Saratoga, the 58th are informed that they are in trouble and that their flight recorders are to be confiscated. But Vansen challenges the General and Cols. Klingman and McQueen, and the General instead orders them into a briefing. They are briefed on Operation Na-ya-ee (phonetic spelling), in which they are to escort an APC flown by telepresence (remote control / VR) by Klingman to the Chig-held planet Eris, there allowing it to be shot down, and its dead passengers captured while they turn tail and run. Later, Vansen is privately told by the General about Jimmy Darkmoon and why the General thinks that this plan will redeem Jimmy¹s life posthumously. Hawkes goes off to discuss the telepresence with Col. Klingman, while McQueen confronts Ross with his conclusions about the upcoming mission and its significance, with historical parallels, and McQueen¹s theory that the General believes that the Chigs know the Navaho language -- Na-ya-ee -- "Alien Gods."
The 58th escort the APC to Eris, encountering two sets of Chig fighters, one set on either side of the asteroid belt they must fly through. In the belt, the APC is his by one of the asteroids, and the link between the APC and the hammerheads is knocked out. Hawkes manages to talk Klingman through the battle until it is time to "go Olivier," at which point the APC is left vulnerable, and hit by Chig fire. As it drops towards the planet, the 58th head back to the Saratoga, where Vansen accepts the Montgomery Star posthumously for Darkmoon. Col. Klingman has already left the Saratoga by the time Hawkes goes to look for her.
For our fathers and grandfathers at Guadalcanal, August 7, 1942 - February 7, 194315th Earth Fleet, Pegasus Sector
USS Saratoga, 04:10
The brass from several nations discuss plans to begin Operation Roundhammer with the retaking of the planet Demios.USS Saratoga, 05:20
The 15th MEU, including the 58th, leave for Demios.Planet Demios, 05:23
The fleet arrives at Demios and starts Operation "Domino"
USS Eisenhower, 05:30 - "Domino"
USS Saratoga, 05:30 - "Domino"
The fleet begins firing on the planet -- no return fire. The hammerheads are launched, and meet minimal resistance on-planet. The APCs land, but meet no resistance.Demios Airfield, 07:22
An Earth flag is raised as more troops land. The 58th land their planes and report in. The brass cannot figure out why it was so easy ...USS Eisenhower, 10th battle group
The Commodore of the Eisenhower orders the 34th squadron to investigate a lone Chig fighter, but when she loses contact with the 34th, she presses on anyway, only to run into the Chig fleet hiding in the shadow of a moon. The Eisenhower battle group is destroyed by the Chig fleet.The 58th investigate an abandoned diner near the airstrip.
USS Eisenhower, 14:07
The wreck of the Eisenhower plunges towards the planet¹s surface.Not being able to raise the Eisenhower, Vansen tries to contact the Saratoga, picking up enough of the inter-ship communications to realize that the fleet is under heavy attack. She orders everyone to their planes but it is too late -- the Chigs attack the airstrip, and the 15th MEU suffers heavy casualties and the loss of all planes and APCs. Hawkes and Damphousse rescue the radio, and the 58th takes cover, while the rest of the Earth troops retreat over the ridge.
The brass discuss abandoning their 25,000 troops on Demios in an attempt to take the planet Ixion instead, which they feel will cut two years off of the war. Ross is vehemently opposed to the Admiral¹s plan, but the 4-star General in charge calls on McQueen to back him up with his knowledge of military history. McQueen concurs with their assessment, based on events in WWII at Guadalcanal.
The 58th faces heavy resistance on the ground, and requests support. McQueen and Ross argue about whether it is right to abandon the troops on Demios. Ross denies McQueen¹s request to transfer to the supply ships in the hopes of joining the 58th on-planet. Ross then has the unenviable task of telling the ground forces that they are being abandoned to fend for themselves, and the Earth forces head for Ixion.
"2 months later ..."
The 58th are patrolling at night on Demios. They come across some dead humans, and after searching them for ammo and removing personal effects for shipment back home, they bury the dead. After the funeral service, they talk about being abandoned, until Shane notices that it is 1900 hours, and the communications satellite will be overhead. They bounce a signal off of it to the Saratoga ...
USS Saratoga, Planet Ixion
The Earth forces at Ixion are under heavy attack when the 58th call. The Saratoga communications officer in frustration tells the 58th to stop jamming her frequencies, but then McQueen shoves her aside and talks to the 58th briefly, before angrily telling the communications officer "Don¹t you *ever* make them think they are not needed."
Back on Demios, Hawkes suggests abandoning burial patrol in favor of searching for supply drops, when they hear a voice in the distance calling for help. At first, they believe it is a Chig trap, but by the time they realize it is real, the Chig patrol has killed the human that was calling for help, butchering him while they are forces to watch, helpless without ammunition. Moving towards the body later, they come across a wrecked supply drop. Wang discovers that the heat from an explosion has melted a canister of sugar into the dirt, and all of the 58th except a visibly disgusted Vansen start eating the dirt + sugar mixture. She continues to bury the dead soldier.
15th Earth Fleet, near Ixion
McQueen and Ross talk privately about family and how some lives are more important to them than their own. McQueen agonizes about leaving the 58th behind, and tells Ross how proud he is when they call every day at 1900 hours. Ross gently reminds him that one day that call won¹t come ...
The 58th watch overhead as a fragment of the Eisenhower burns up entering the atmosphere, then realize that they have made it back to the airfield. At 1900 hours, they report to the Saratoga that they have retaken the airstrip just as the General in charge of the Earth forces is ready to concede defeat at Ixion. Ironically, her words give Ross hope to continue the fight at Ixion, keeping the fleet fighting there instead of returning to Demios. After her transmission, the radio fizzles out ...
5 days later
The Saratoga bridge crew realizes that they have won at Ixion, but all McQueen can think of is that his kids have not reported in again.
12 days later
Vansen is still making calls to the Saratoga on the dead radio, keeping up the charade for the benefit of the others, but Hawkes realizes finally that the radio is dead, and they confront her about it. She admits that the radio has been dead about 12 days. Just then they see that a ship is heading towards the airfield. They share a last meal -- a sugar packet -- while they wait for the airfield to be bombed, and them with it. They hear a ship land, and vow to die together rather than become Chig prisoners. They pull their k-bars out and wait as the door to the airfield diner opens and a figure is silhouetted in the doorway. Their fear turns to relief when McQueen announces "Sorry to just drop in, but you don¹t call any more." Medics cart them out.
Back on the Saratoga, Ross apologizes to them, and McQueen tells them that APCs have picked up about 2,000 survivors. Damphousse gives McQueen the bag containing the personal effects of the buried soldiers, and he leaves the 58th to sleep. West, however, feels that he cannot sleep because there is something he should be doing. Vansen looks at the clock -- it is 1900 hours.
Episode opens with the creation of the Universe by the big bang. The evolution of the universe and life is depicted on camera. Vansen does the voice over:One day ... before the there were days, everything -- before there was anything -- you ... me ... the Sun and all the stars we can ... and cannot see ... were together in a size smaller than this point of light.The 58th is assigned the mission of inspecting and confirming intelligence reports about the planetoid Anvil (also know as celestial body 2064K). They must determine soil composition, terrain obstacles and indications of enemy activity. This planetoid will by the beachhead for Operation Roundhammer. The Chigs have fallen for the false intel planted in Operation Naye'i.
And then ... it became ...By an inexplicable somehow.
Ten million years later, gravity tried to pull it back. Creating Galaxies: billions. Stars: trillions. And a solitary Earth, made of one continent.
For the next four hundred million years, volcanic eruptions spewed toxic gas into an atmosphere devoid of oxygen. Deadly radiation heated acidic oceans. Comets and asteroids rained with the force greater than all the nuclear arsenals of the twentieth century.
And yet ... life became ...By an inexplicable somehow.
The first cell ... Every tree in the Amazon ... Everything ... Everyone ... that is alive, or has ever lived ... is descended from the same ancestral form of life.
You ... me ... friend and enemies ... And all the life we can ... and are yet ... to see.
The 58th prepares their gear for planetary insertion via ISSTV (Inter Solar System Transport Vehicle) to planet Anvil. They prepare for a hostile environment with a Methane/SO2 atmosphere, yet Cooper packs his "G.I. Geequed" Comics books. During the final briefing in the "White Room", the Wild Cards are told that fuel restrictions with the ISSTV don't allow for a secondary recovery. They must go in, do it, and come out. No other options.
In the ISSTV, Cooper is reading his comic explaining that, "I learn a lot for Geequed. Everyone could learn somethin' from the Sarge." The 58th approaches Anvil and suit up -- forcing Hawkes to grudegingly puts his comic away.
On planet, the 58th touches down and begins to perform their duties under the fearful attention of an alien hidden in the underbrush. Crackling noises in the woods catch the attention of the 58th and the hidden alien. Three Chigs in armor patrol the area, and are killed by the 58th. Suprisingly, even on a planet not poisonous to them, the Chigs were armor and 'spooge' green when their helmets are removed. Wang decides that the aliens must have a suicide capsule implanted in them, either voluntarily or against their will.
After the battle with the Chigs, Cooper notices the alien watching them and takes on in pursuit. The 58th loses the alien, but decide that they must find it and kill it, since it may warn the Chigs of the impending invasion. Meanwhile the alien has hidden itself in the underbrush and crawled into a cave, where it has found one of its eggs cracked by the landing of the ISSTV. The alien's eyes are very sad with the death of its child.
The 58th resumes setting up the gear. Hawkes and Vansen leave the others to hunt down the alien, over Wangs protests of "Do you *have* to kill it?" While West, Damphousse and Wang make their preperations, you can see an trip wire near West, that is connected to stakes covered with poison and feces.
Hawkes and Vansen explore the woods and follow the trail of the alien right to its lair, but cannot find the entrance due to the moss covered trap door. They split up to search the area more effectively. Vansen sets off a trip wire and it catapulted into the air in a net. Her yells grab the attention of the rest of the 58th, who come running. Wests flurry of activity sets off the trip wire near him sending stakes flying through the air, narrowly missing Wang and Damphousse but destroying the equipment between the stakes and West. The 58th rescues Vansen and follows the alien back to the cave.
On the Saratoga, all seems normal and the "balloon goes up" for the invasion of Anvil.
Vansen and Cooper explore the cave and find that it is a hatchery. Outside, the 58th ponders the differences between the Chigs and the alien cave. Nathan jokingly suggests that the alien is an "Amish Chig".
Hawkes gives a speech about the upcoming invasion, and that too many lives depend on its success. He tells the others that if they don't have the dark heart to do what was right, he does; and marches off to the nest to kill the alien. In the nest, he finds Chig soldiers and engages them in a firefight, eventually killing them. Cowering in the corner, sad at the death of all its children, the alien backs away in fear from Hawkes expecting the hot impact of his bullet.
Back at the EZ, the 58th wraps up its preperations when Vansen sees something coming out of the woods. Its Hawkes with the alien at gun point. The others look at him strangely, to which he responds, "I might not be a very good human, but I'm better than a Chig." He explains that the Chigs must have been there to do the same thing he was -- namely to kill the alien.
After trying to communicate ineffectively with the alien, Hawkes manages to get some kind of comprehension with his "G.I. Geequed" comic book. He uses the graphic pictures to explain the fate of this area and of the alien, emphasizing his point by poking at the ground.
The alien responds by taking a handfull of earth, rubbing it meaningly and handing it to Hawkes. It then points to itself, the woods and finally the 58th -- humans. The ISSTV comes for the extraction, forcing the alien to run away in fear. Hawkes has left his favourite comic behind -- unfinished.
Meanwhile on the Saratoga, an alien craft approaches and signals in rough Morse code: PEACE. The Alien Interpretation Unit (Spooky Unit) is pulled from the Nebraska to help communicate with the surrendered Chig.
After presurerizing a chamber with gases breathable by the Chig, the humans and the chig enter the compartment. Slowly the Chig removes its helmet, revealing the same pasty-white alien race the 58th encountered on Anvil.
To be continued... Tell our moms we done our best.
Really Rough DraftAlien offers peace treaty, but only if it can talk to the head of Aerotech: E Allan Wayne. Wayne arrives and begins negotiation, as the 58th and 59th go to recover the Tellus and Vesta Colonists from the prison camp.
The alien explains that humans and Chigs are from the same seeded genetic material, but because of their atmosphere, the Chigs evolved faster. They developed space travel and observed us for a long time, and their fear of us grew.
When they realized that we had developed FTL travel, they began to broadcast warning messages to us to keep away and to colonize elsewhere. However, Aerotech simply ignored the warning and began the invasion.
The Chig attacks E Allan Wayne in retribution for all the loss of life he has caused. McQueen attempts to defend Wayne, but gets his leg blown off in his futile effort. Wayne lies dead on the floor of the interrogation room.
Meanwhile the 58th gets ambushed during the rescue attempt. Vansen and Damphousse crash and are not seen again. Wang ejects his weapon turret to defend the escape of the colonists and West & Cooper.
Back at the Saratoga, West sits on Wang's bunk as Hawkes enters. They both mistake each other for Wang who sacrificed himself for them. Both gaze sadly at each other and Hawkes says, "Semper Fi, man."
NB: This is a hacked together version of the story. Editing may add or remove events I have (and have not mentioned, including the reason the Chigs went from fear to paranoid agression.) Vansen and Damphousse may be dead depending on how they edit that scene. There is a lot of room left for interpretation. and editing will decide how we perceive the ending.
The show has been canceled after the first season!