Disclaimer: Like I said before, I do not own the Roughnecks, laa dee daa...

Trouble in my Backyard

Razak moved slowly along the open desert; something just wasn't right. Everything was far too quiet. He hated the quiet. He looked for Higgins, disturbed to find the young reporter was out of his line of sight. He was about to plan the young man's punishment once they got back to the Valley Forge when gunshots erupted over the horizon, in Rico and Dizzy's direction.

"Lt. Razak!!" shouted Higgins over the Comm. If he had shouted any louder, he would have blown out the speakers in Razak's helmet. "Lt. Razak, please respond!!"

"Higgins, report!" barked Razak, more than slightly annoyed.

"Rico just reported that he has completely lost contact with Dizzy, visual and radio! There's gunfire coming from her last position, but he can't find her!"

"Damn," said Razak. "I just knew something was wro--"

"Lt. Razak, Doc's missing!" shouted Brutto over the Comm. "Repeat: I have lost visual and radio contact! Request assistance!"

Razak cursed. "Brutto, state your posit--"

"Lt. Razak," whispered Gossard. "Davis is sensing something. Bugs..."

"I thought she said the area was clear..." Razak narrowed his eyes; his suspicions had been confirmed. Tasha had lied to them, had endangered them. But to what purpose? "Where are they?"

"Everywhere," said Gossard.

"Everywhere? Can you be more specific, Goss?"

Tasha's voice came through, a harsh command in a rasping whisper amidst the shouts of the other troopers, "Beneath us."

Razak raised an eyebrow. "Come again, Davis?"

"They are under the ground." Her voice was unusually calm. "I suggest you do not move any farther on your present course. Get back to the dropping point and radio for a dust-off. We'll wait here."

Brutto's enraged shouts came over the Comm. "Like hell we will! LT, we came here to kill some Bugs, so lets kill some damn Bugs!"

"Lt. Razak, help me!"

Razak's eye opened wide and he said quietly, "Higgins!"

Radio static. Gunshots. Silence.

"Lt. Razak," said Gossard slowly, "I just lost Rico's signal. And Higgins'. LT, we can't just leave them here."

Lt. Razak stood still and alone on the silent red plains of Mars. He tightened his grip on his gun and grit his teeth.

"Lt. Razak?" Brutto's voice was tense over the Comm.

"We stay," said Razak, "and we fight."

****

Gossard, Tasha, and Brutto slowly made their way back to Razak and the Marauders. Goss enthusiastically jumped into his suped-up Marauder and Brutto took Doc's. Razak and Tasha were on foot. The group carefully made their way back to Dizzy's last known position; there was a hole in the ground and signs of a struggle. Dizzy's gun was lying about three feet away from the hole. Razak peeked inside the large opening and looked around. The entire area was one huge tunnel, perfectly rounded, that had been dug through the planet's surface. He stood back up and dusted himself off.

"Gossard, how many of these tunnels are in this area?" he asked.

"Unsure, sir," said Goss. "Something's jamming the sensors."

Tasha groaned in pain and fell to her knees. She shuddered. "They're coming!"

"Roughnecks, fall back!"

Razak and Tasha made a short retreat while the Marauders covered them. At least thirty Warriors flooded out of the opening like antswhose colony had bee disturbed. Following close behind them was a group of Workers.

"Aw crap," muttered Gossard. He fired at the first wave of Bugs, dropping five. They were faster than he remembered. Three more charged him with more ferocity than he had seen since their first encounter with the Kamikaze Ripplers. He grabbed one by the jaws and ripped it in two. As he was about to attack the other two, a blue light caught his eye. "Plasma! On the ridge!"

Razak looked toward the high ridge to the north. Five Plasma Bugs were lumbering toward them. He frowned and prepared to enter the nest; a Warrior and two Workers blocked his path. He fired his Morita and nailed one of the Workers. He took aim at the Warrior and another hit him from behind, pushing him to the ground and knocking his gun from his hand. He pulled himself up from the ground; the Warriors charged at him. A volley of gunfire from his right quickly brought them down. Razak, slightly startled, soon found himself being presented his Morita by Tasha.

"I've got your back, LT."

Razak stared as the young soldier ran at the Warriors, firing for all she was worth. Every now and again, Razak could have sworn that he saw her rip a Bug's leg off with her bare hands. She shouted at him to get to the hole, that she would cover them and catch up. Razak watched as she rolled and grabbed Dizzy's gun. She used both guns, firing in a criss-cross pattern, to scatter the Warriors.

"Davis, I can't leave you out here!"

"You can't leave Rico and the others in there either!" Tasha kicked the lower jaw od a dead Warrior away and shot at another. "Go now!"

Razak nodded. He and the Marauders disappeared down into the nest. A sick feeling arose in Tasha's stomach as she watched them vanish. Once she was sure they were gone, she screamed and ran into the fray.

****

Back on the Valley Forge, Carl was wandering around the medlab. He looked at all the wounded troopers in the cryo-chambers, waiting to be taken back to Earth or a medical facility, and suddenly felt relieved that he wasn't one of them. He walked past them and toward the large window at the end of the exit corridor; he looked at Mars mournfully.

"There are so many things I don't quite remember," he whispered into the darkness of space. "My memories of Tasha are so vague. I don't remember her ever being so headstrong and stubborn, but part of me says that she's always been that way. I don't understand it. And why did she lie to me? What reason is there to lie to an old friend?"

The nurse walked into the corridor. She took one look at Carl and shouted across the room, "Mr. Jenkins! I have told you a million times tonight not to get out of bed! You haven't fully recovered yet!"

Carl's eyes narrowed, but he didn't turn to face her. *Leave me alone.*

The nurse thought she was just hearing things. She persisted, "Mr. Jenkins, I must insist that you return to your room at once! You are a special case and have been placed under quarintine!"

*I said leave. I can do as I wish.*

The nurse became cross. She marched over to Carl, continuing to shout at him, screaming that she wished S.I.C.O.N. would just mind-wipe him and feed him to the Bugs.

"I don't know why they even bother trying to help you "Psychs"," she said as she approached him. "If it were up to me, I'd throw you out into space and be done with you!"

*You can't do that. You have no control over me. You never will; no one will.*

The woman frowned. She grabbed the young psychic by the shoulder roughly and turned him around. She hissed, "Stay out of my head, you freak!"

That was her mistake. Their eyes met. Carl's gaze was cold and piercing and his rage ripped away his control. He went into her mind. There, he tore apart her memories, her thoughts, her psyche; her life, her mind, was no more. She screamed one final time before her lifeless body hit the metal floor of the ship's corridor and her skull cracked. Carl immediately snapped back to his senses. He stared at the nurse's motionless, bleeding body in horror.

"What have I done?"

****

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. This story, and several others, have taken a backseat to my life for a time. I promise to get more chapters up as long as I know people are reading it!