General Disclaimer: I do not own the Roughnecks. If I did, the show would've gotten FINISHED! *sits in a corner and fumes*

Ambush

The drop. It was Razak's Roughnecks turn to drop onto Mars. Tasha had been on hundreds of drops, from Pluto to Hydora to Tophet. And now, to the Red Planet itself, the home of the Roman god of War: Mars. She looked around at her team mates as they prepared to drop. They were anxious, their adrenaline already speeding through their bodies. They each had their respective drop pods and were suiting up. She stared at Lt. Razak. He was so serious and so collected. She admired him.

"Live forever, apes."

All the Roughnecks, in their collective voice, shouted their reply, "HO!"

Then, they dropped. The blood of ever trooper in the squad burned with the thrill of the atmospheric entry and the anticipation of the upcoming battle. In the midst of the drop, Tasha could hear Dizzy, Rico, and Gossard shouting out improvised battle-cries:

"Yaaa-hooo! Let's go kick some Bug butt!"

"Oh yeah! Splatterfest in Bug Country!"

"Let's blast 'em ta Hell, guys!"

These were the battle-cries of Razak's Roughnecks. Loud, senseless, and obnoxious to some, but to the troopers these cries indicated that they meant serious business. It was a certain thing: Bugs would be squashed.
They ejected their drop pods. The winds rushed up around them, knocking the breath from them in spite of their power suits. They hit the ground hard, even when using their jet-packs. Razak and Brutto guided the Marauders in for their landing. Tasha fingered her gun nervously; they had landed right in the middle of a reported swarm of Warriors, Workers, Plasmas, and Kamikaze Ripplers who were supposedly guarding a Brain Bug in a nearby cave. The entire field was silent. There was nothing.

"Davis, any Bugs in the area?" whispered Razak. He watched as Tasha closed her eyes and put her hand to her head, like Carl used to do to scan the area. While Carl always showed signs of pain or a minor headache when he used his abilities, Tasha didn't. Razak frowned; she wasn't scanning anything. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Nothing, sir," she said, suprisingly calm now, "I don't sense anything aside from us. Not a damn thing."

"I don't like it," said Rico, pacing from Dizzy to Razak. He turned to glare at Tasha. "Are you sure you don't sense anything? Nothing at all?"

She shrugged. "It could be magnetic interference. Or even the Brain Bug."

"If it's even here," said Gossard. "Intel's been wrong before."

"But they've never been wrong about a Brain before," said Higgins uncertainly. They all stared at one another, not exactly sure how to respond. Higgins' face paled. "Have they?"

"Teams of two," Razak ordered, "then spread out. We can't leave until we have information on whether the Bugs are indeed on Mars. Roughnecks, MOVE OUT!"

The teams consisted of Rico and Dizzy, Doc and Brutto, Razak and Higgins, and Gossard and Davis. No one complained. The groups split up in four directions, and then the two troopers would split themselves up; they would be able to cover more ground that way. They made double sure to stay in line of sight of their team mates.
Tasha stopped dead in her tracks. It had been an hour of searching an not a single Bug had shown even so much as a feeler. now, an hour after the search began, Tasha had just... stopped. Gossard stopped and stared at his still team mate.

"Hey, Davis," he called, via radio, "what's wrong?"

"Goss," she said, her voice raspy, "do not move."

"What's going on?"

"Bugs..." she whispered.

Gossard inhaled deeply, "Where?"

"Everywhere..."

Rico was becoming impatient; his trigger-finger was ready and waiting, but it would not wait much longer. He looked for Dizzy.

"Dizzy."

"What now?" she asked, irritated.

"Did you feel that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Feel what?"

"The ground is shaking."

Dizzy shook her head and groaned, "Rico stop imagining things. You heard Brain-girl; there's nothing out here!"

"I think she was wrong."

"Geez, Rico, why do you always give the new guys a hard time?" Dizzy came to a small ledge and climbed up. She squinted her eyes and scanned the area. "It's not as if she'll be replacing Carl for good. He's getting better and he'll be back with us before you know it! So what's the big deal?"

"Hmph..."

"Fine then. Don't answer me." She jumped down from her perch on the ledge. "Truly though, I can't say I blame you for feeling the way you do. I heard her talking to Carl that night in the Med."

Rico smirked, "So you were eavesdropping."

"You betcha," she said proudly. She kicked a rock and watched it float in front of her; it hit the ground some distance away with a soft thud. "I wanted to know what she had to do with Carl. I care about him, too, y'know!"

"And?" asked Rico, interested.

"And, it turns out that our little psychic chic isn't all that she claims to be to Carl. She said that....*" Dizzy was cut off by the sound of static and gunshots.

"Dizzy!"

******

A/N: *grins* I love cliff-hangers.