General Disclaimer: I do not own the Roughnecks...*bats eyelashes sweetly* But Carl can come over to my place anytime he wants to and "play"...*grins really big and Carl looks at her nervously*. Tasha Davis, the White Fang, and the Blackdragons, as well as their present and past LT, belong to me.

New Faces and Catastophies

Gossard had both guns at the ready as he retraced their steps to Tasha's position. His radio was on, in spite of the interference, and he kept calling out to Tasha in hopes a message would get through and she would stay put. Something about the tunnel caught his attention and worried him: The tunnel was completely empty and silent. Where were the dead Warriors? And why did the tunnel seem wider at some points? He ran on through the tunnel, nothing heard except his own footsteps. There was a slight tremble in the floor of the tunnel; Gossard froze in place. The rumbling stopped.

"Freaky," he said as he walked on. "There shouldn't be any seismic activity in this area. Hmm..."

"Goss *frzt*!"

"Davis! About time! Where are you?"

"Help me!" The sounds of struggling and screeching Warriors echoed over the static-filled transmission. "*frzz* Too many! Require assistance!"

Gossard sped up and rounded a sharp corner. "Don't worry, Davis, I'm on my way!"

Suddenly, another female voice broke clearly through the message. "This is 3rd Lieutenant Sara Castle of the Blackdragons. We are locked onto your position and we're coming in for a landing. Be advised you are in a hot zone, Alpha Squad! We will rendevous with your squad at your location, Cpl.Gossard! Sit tight!"

Gossard slid to a stop. "What the hell?"

Shaking his head, he broke into a run; who was Sara Castle? How did she know he was there? He hadn't sent out a distress call. His locator beacon wasn't even on. After a few turns and curves, Gossard came to where Tasha had signaled from. Five Warriors were hovering over her. She was lying on the ground, still; she looked dead, even though there wasn't a single mark on her. The Warriors looked up and screeched when Gossard came into view. They charged him and he fired with both guns.

"Damn Bugs! I'm a mechanic, not an exterminator!"

"Maybe you're a bit of both, Corporal!" A young woman came running down the tunnel towards him, a small squad of troopers wearing black and red powersuits close behind her. "Aurthur, McCallister, Louis get that wounded Private out of harms way! Thomas, take point! Murphy, you're with me! Move move move!!"

A young man, about eighteen, shouted, "What about Sargeant Marshal? We can't just leave him back there!"

"He's dead, McCallister! You have your orders, now follow them!" She glared at the young Private. "Aurthur, your team will block this side of the tunnel as soon as Pvt.Davis is cleared!"

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

Gossard looked back at Tasha. She was alive and screaming. Her screams almost didn't sound human. He shook his head. No time for suspicions. Lt.Castle ran up to Gossard and he tossed her one of his guns. She shouted at Tasha. Tasha rolled over just in time to recieve the Morita as it was sliding to her across the floor of the tunnel. She rolled out from under a Warrior and shot it through its nerve cluster. Castle's squad had another group of Warriors pinned at the tunnel's entrance. Castle joined Gossard as he began to fire at three charging Warriors who were approaching from a tunnel to their right.

"That tunnel wasn't there before..." he said quietly.

"You're lucky we were in the area!" shouted Castle. "We intercepted your S.O.S. on our skimmer."

"Not that I wanna sound..." He fired at a Warrior that was coming up from behind them. "ungrateful or anything, Lieutenant, but we never sent out an S.O.S. from in the tunnels! We were outside when we last tried that and Davis reported heavy Plasma activity in the area had destroyed the rescue ship!"

Castle's face conveyed an expression of confusion. "We saw no sign of a destroyed transport. Only the remains of your drop-ship at the LZ." She threw a grenade into the new tunnel, sealing it. "And I'm certain we recieved an S.O.S. from Alpha Squad. You are Corporal Jeff Gossard of Razak's Roughnecks, aren't you?"

Gossard slapped in a fresh clip and fired on the last remaining Warriors. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to get back to Razak and help find our M.I.A. troopers!"

"Agreed," she said, tossing a grenade at the last Warrior. "Dragons, Roughnecks! Move out!"

Castle's squad, plus Tasha, hustled into a circle formation around the two superior officers. Gossard was grateful for the little break, but something was really starting to nag at him. The tunnel was once again cleared and quiet. He easily kept in pace with Lt.Castle, hoping to get some more information on her reasons for being there. He took a closer look at her; she was only eighteen or nineteen years old and already was a Lieutenant. Unless she had been promoted on the field, unofficially (which he doubted), such a young LT was rather uncommon. She talked like a seasoned vet, with a dash of Drill Sargeant in her blood. He tried to remain friendly as he spoke.

"So, Lieutenant," he said, "what's your story?"

Castle shot him a look; apparently, she disliked being addressed so familiarly by an officer of lower rank. The look passed and she sighed. "What do you mean, Cpl. Gossard?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted," she said, turning her head away so she couldn't see him.

"You're awful young to be an LT. What's your story? Field promotion? Original LT bought it and you were the best qualified for the job?"

She sighed. "My story is long and complicated, Cpl. Gossard. I suggest we delve into my past at a later date. Like after we get out of an infested hot zone."

"Yes, sir."

"However," she continued, sounding a bit more friendly, "I can tell you that I didn't give you my full rank and info before. I'm with Special Ops. Psychic training. We were sent to this area right after you vanished from the screens on the Valley Forge. We're from the White Fang, Omega Squadron. The Blackdragons." She smiled and chuckled. "Our reputation is second only to Razak's Roughnecks. Well, my first squad's reputation; most of us were wiped out on Klendathu. My squad was named after the original United States Army M.I. squad of the same title. Lieutenant Michael Jenkins' Blackdragons."

"Jenkins? Any relation to Carl Jenkins?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Michael Jenkins' squad was wiped out in WWIII, seventy years ago. Nuclear blast. No survivors."

She suddenly went quiet and her head hung low. So did her gun. Gossard raised an eyebrow and took another look at her. She was so young, and yet at the same time she seemed so old.

'Later,' he thought. 'I'll worry about it later.'

Tasha broke formation and walked up behind Castle. Neither she nor Gossard noticed her. Suddenly, Castle fell forward, grasping her head and screaming something about white fires in her head. Gossard looked around and saw Tasha. He pushed her to the ground and glared. Castle recovered quickly and whirled to face Tasha, her eyes wild.

"Private, may I have a word with you?" asked Castle. Tasha looked at her blankly. ***NOW.***

Tasha grit her teeth and glared. In any case, she walked over to Castle. Gossard took Tasha's place in formation while they talked. They trudged on, speeding up in some places. Gossard tried to listen in on their conversation, but they weren't speaking out loud; he could only see their facial expressions and body language. Neither of the young women were happy. Tasha nodded once, semingly reluctant to do so, and returned to her place in formation. Gossard once more took pace next to Castle.

"What was that all about?"

"Davis and I have had past relations," she said grimly. "I was her C.O. during first half of the Pluto Campaign. I also knew her from the Academy. We had enlisted together in Los Angeles, and I was immediately placed in the chain of command at Special Ops. HQ. Intel saw me as command material. Davis was sore about it. She had wanted the job. I became her Psychic traning CO at S.I.C.O.N. Special Ops base in Tokyo later on. That made life even more strained between us. It didn't help our working relationship afterward that there had been an...accident...on Pluto..."

"What sort of accident, Lieutenant?"

"I would rather not--*" A blood-curdling scream from behind them cut her off mid-sentence. Both Tasha and Castle fell to the ground, grasping their heads and screaming. Gossard looked behind him; three of Castle's troopers were gone. Blood marks on the floor and walls of the tunnel were all he could see. He looked at Castle's remaining troopers, Aurthur and Murphy; they were frozen to the spot, absolutely terrified. They were staring at the ground.

"Holy shit,' muttered Gossard as he picked up the helmet of Pvt.McCallister. Blood covered the inside of the helmet and dripped onto Gossard's feet. He threw it away. "Aurthur, Murphy, we have to get out of here NOW!" They remained still. "LT, Get your men in gear!"

Castle coughed, blood dripping from her lips, and raised herself up on her elbows. She groaned and shouted, "Dragons, you will obey the Roughneck's orders! He is your superior! Aurthur! Murphy! Move it!"

The two young men screamed and began to run toward their Lieutenant, continuing past her and down the tunnel. Castle yalled as loud as she could for them to wait, to assist their C.O. Horrifying screams echoed in the tunnel; Castle and Tasha screamed and cringed to the floor, tears streaming down their faces. Gossard understood. They could sense death. He was suddenly relieved he wasn't born psychic; he wouldn't have been able to deal with the pain. So many troopers have died in this war. He was suprised Castle wasn't insane. He knelt down next to Castle and shook her shoulder. She was mumbling something he couldn't understand and sobbing; Tasha, however, was lying still and staring at the back of Castle's head.

Tasha suddenly let out a shuddering sigh. "It's coming for us now..."

A/N: