Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles

Rookie troopers Rico, Flores and Jenkins journey to Pluto as part of Alpha Team "Razak's Roughnecks" on what is supposed to be a simple mop-up operation, but find a major threat to the research stations from plasma-shooting alien Bugs.

When the Roughnecks pick up a distress call from pilots Ibanez and Barcalow, who are under attack at a research outpost, Rico risks the safety of his own squad to save Carmen.

The squad is assigned to assist intelligence officer Earle Walker in capturing a live Plasma Bug and bringing it back through enemy territory.

As the war moves to the planet Tophet, the Roughnecks go after Razak and Higgins, who are trapped behind enemy lines and about to be blown up by their own air strike.

Rico has to train Higgins the reporter to defend himself in combat, as the Roughnecks try to defend themselves from new flying Bugs that seem impervious to laser fire.

On a mission to capture an important mountain pass, Rico has trouble trusting the squad's newest member, a cyborg.

Higgins summarizes the current state of the war on Pluto and Tophet in clips from previous episodes.

When the Roughnecks go beneath the surface of Pluto to locate the Bug army's incubation center, Flores suffers from disabling claustrophobia.

The battle against the Bugs moves to the watery planet Hydora, where Rico and the Roughnecks again come to Carmen's rescue when she is stranded while evacuating wounded.

The "Transport" Bug that was found bringing reinforcements and eggs to Pluto is followed back to the watery planet Hydora, where it releases barb-shooting flying bugs of a previously unknown type. Is this the bug home world?

Searching for the Rippler nest on Hydora, the Roughnecks come under heavy fire and Jenkins is severely wounded by an acid-tipped barb. Can Jenkins survive his wound and can they find the nest?

While trying to find out what happened to Lt. Ross, who was found wandering on Hydora with his memory gone and his entire squad missing, the Roughnecks are captured by the Bugs.

Trying to locate two missing squads that seem to have vanished into thin air, the Roughnecks find themselves battling giant amphibious beetles.

The Skinnies, formerly working for the Bugs, have changed sides but one of them meets considerable resistance when he joins the squad for its assault on Zegema Beach.

Having crashed on a barren asteroid, the Roughnecks try to make their way to a crashed science vessel for help.

As the squad tries to locate a brain bug on Tesca Nemerosa from underwater, Rico is trapped when his Marauder suit runs out of power.

Rico still doesn't trust T'Phai, but In the jungle on Tesca Nemerosa, they are forced to work together when the other squad members start disappearing.

While a monsoon hits the Zegema Base hard, Rico floats unconscious in a regeneration tank, fighting his subconscious to stay alive.

Still in the tank, Rico grows increasingly angry and frustarted that no one is taking his claims that the bugs are coming seriously. Meanwhile, the squad is out to charting bug tunnels near the base.

Higgins is ordered to make a good Fed-Net report hiding the horrors of war and showing something positive about the bug campaign.

The Zephyr is still stuck on the ice asteroid. The Roughnecks are running low on ammunition and the Fireflies keep attacking. Gossard suggests they use the Toxin they've collected to set up a poison gas perimeter. To give him time T'Phai, Flores and Rico lead the Fireflies off as human bait. Things go wrong though and they are trapped with no apparent way out. Suddenly Zander appears and does a Pied Piper act with the Bugs - they all seem to fall into a giant crater. The team return to the ship and their report convinces every one Sander has bought the farm - but he suddenly reappears even crazier then before. Razak boots Rico up to a Corporal during the next battle session during which an tremor send the Zephyr into another crater. The ship eventually lands in a lake of corrosive liquid and is running low on air. Doc and Brutto go looking for an oxygen supply. T hey manage to find one but barely make it back to the ship. Doc though has other news! He is

The Roughnecks are captured by the skinnies, and held for interrogation.

Returning from a combat mission in a retrieval ship, the Zephyr, the Roughnecks are re-routed to an asteroid to join scientists from another ship, the Sequoia, in a quest for a bio-weapon against the bugs. Just as they are coming in for a landing, tiny flame-breathing bugs, Firefries, hatch from Zander's skin. The ship crashes, badly damaged, but there are no serious injuries. Teams are sent out to locate the Sequoia. One team, Razak and Doc, falls into a subterranean network where they are attacked by marshmallow-like Leeches. Another team, Brutto and T'Phai, find themselves in a battle with adult, human-sized Firefries. Razak and Doc, joined by Dizzy and Gossard from the ship, join in this battle. Meanwhile, the third team, Carmen and Rico, is buried by an avalanche, and beneath the snow they share some intimate moments. Dizzy saves them. All return to the Zephyr, where Higgins awaits with the recovering Zander. They finally realize that they're on the wrong asteroid; the Sequoia awa

The Zephyr remains crash-landed on a frozen asteroid. A team is sent out to collect Toxin B-3, a potent bio-weapon that they've found here, while Gossard and others remain at the ship to try to get the communications system working to send an SOS... and to protect the ship from Firefries.

The capture of the "skinny" Colonel T'Phai reveals that the entire race are being mentally controlled by the bugs and that they are using the planet for fuel and plan to blow it up after they are done. Can the Roughnecks stop the bugs in time?

Arriving on the planet of Tophet, the Roughnecks are surprised to meet an advanced indigenous species. They claim the bugs came, but couldn't adapt to their climate and died... But where are all the corpses then?

S.I.C.O.N. prepares for the D-Day invasion of the bug home planet of Klendathu. During the build-up Flores gets an M.I.A. notice from telling her. that her brother, Eddie is MIA - presumed dead in a retrieval ship crash. She is badly shaken by this bombshell and her performance as a trooper is severely affected. The Roughnecks land in an area deemed uninhabited by Intel, as usual Intel get it wrong and the meet stiff opposition. Flores hesitates in the DZ and Rico who's been kicked up to Sergeant to replace Brutto is worried as Lt Razak has left it to him to decide whether she is now a liability. Rico is torn and leaves Flores in charge of a group of wounded troopers from other squads whilst the Roughnecks carry on the fight. As they get bogged down in the fighting Flores is brought back to reality by the will to fight of an injured trooper from another squad. She is able to surprise the Bugs from behind and save the Roughnecks. Later she meets another trooper who

The Valley Forge is enroute to their next campaign, a long trip. The Roughnecks drew the watch as most of the ship's crew is in stasis. Doc is suddenly attacked by Zander who has mutated into a new form of Bug. Zander escapes and runs amok in the ship, letting samples of other Bug types free to keep the Roughnecks busy whilst it heads for the bridge. There it captures Carmen and the Commander and, to stop the Roughnecks from interfering, kills power to the stasis tubes. Gossard manages to restore power to the tubes whilst Rico and Brutto go outside the Valley Forge to the emergency air lock on the bridge. As they enter the Sander Bug notices them and closes the door trapping Brutto in the process and damaging his legs. The rest of the team arrive and Zander escapes in a life-pod to the planet he was trying to crash the Valley Forge onto. Carmen manages to avoid the crash causing the Commander to withdraw earlier comments about automated pilots. The planet is t

The Roughnecks are dug in on Klendathu and are facing an inevitable Bug attack. High Command order them to hold the position at all costs. Higgins finds an unfinished letter home an anonymous trooper had begun but not finished. This gives him the idea of taping a series of ""Goodbyes"" from the rest of the squad to the folks back home - just in case. Through out the night the troopers individually record messages to their families on Earth. At day break the Bugs attack but the Troopers manage to hold them off just long enough for a major air strike to hit the Bugs. As they prepare for retrieval Higgins asks Lt Razak if he wants to tape a message to his family - Razak points him at the squad and tells him that these are his family.

Rico is left floating in space after his pod malfunctions during a drop.