The Drop in ‘Starship Troopers’

The game of Star Craft is ‘perfectly balanced’ —
Terrans, however, remain overpowered:

LIVE BROADCAST— FLEET BATTLESTATION TICONDEROGA

SKY MARSHALL EDMUND DUKE
We are a generation commanded by fate to defend humankind! We must meet the threat with our valor, our blood, with our very lives, to insure that human civilization, not insect, dominates this galaxy now and always.

The Terran armada descends into a low orbit around Klendathu. Several dozen Corvete Transports carrying thousands of Mobile Infantery prepare to cut their Viking landing craft loose.

Jonny ‘Griffin Stone’ Rico gets the shakes. Dizzy, Birdie, Ace, Sugar, Sgt. Zim, and the rest of the Troopers sink into their memories, and into so many possible futures with, and beyond the Bugs.

On the bridge, Carmen, the ‘Shining One’, has a grand view of the operation. From the helm she sees the planet’s thin horizon crossing just underneath the nose of the Rodger Young. Small support craft and squadrons of TAC fighters maneuver between their carrier, and two more gargantuan exterminators directly ahead: the Yamamoto and the George Marshal. The line continues past the Bull Run, Mannerheim, and the Dauntless. Dozens of landing craft cling to each of their bellies.

At once, the landers are cut loose from their motherships and begin their descent into the planet’s atmosphere. Each dropship dips slightly to one side, then burn their rear thrusters, swinging aggressively to the left. From inside, through their narrow viewports, a sliver of curved daylight from the planet’s surface shines through. As the descent continues, the pod’s interior lights dim. Darkness takes over. Then, through the viewports, periodic flashes of bright blue light make the inside visible again.

In the lower corner of Carmen’s grand view is a flickering barely visible at such a great distance. Ascending from the terminator, and the darker half of the planet — a dozen or so strobing blue spears arc slowly toward the armada — Bug plasma.

The landing craft easily wiz around the spears while Rasczak’s Roughnecks withhold their vomit. A few groans of doubt slip past their stoicism and through the deafening ‘hissing’ sound of retro boosters stabilizing their descent. The dark interior of the landing craft flashes blue again —

Trembling monitors centered at the front and rear of the pod abruptly light the space again, this time with Dr. Carl Doogy Hoswer’s not-so-beautiful face. His pale, cloistered complexion contrasts with his clean, black outfit and matching ironed tie — now complete with a neat black overcoat. His message from Military Intelligence blares into the pod:

Carl, coldly:
While you’re out killing bugs, we want you to be our eyes and ears. The bugs use some kind of plasma burst to divert meteors and aim them toward Earth. We need to know how they do this. If you encounter any plasma, report it immediately to your superior. Good luck, and good hunting!

Rico leans into Birdie on his left and shouts over the hissing:
“I grew up with that guy!”

Birdie doesn’t hear a word. Like the others, she stares blankly ahead — all Troopers trapped in their own, private spaces; all trapped in a cramped, violently vibrating landing pod. Birdie goes back to Mars and recalls valuable lessons she learned from her first encounters with the Bugs, when a small colony sprang up on the Red Planet several years ago.
Ace focuses on his breathing.
Sugar hums a song.

The Vikings descend into Klendathu’s atmosphere. The first waves of plasma breeze past the small craft, then harmlessly beyond the armada. While relatively slow, the corvettes move too quickly to be targeted by the Bugs.

Carmen, the Shining One, holds the Rodger Young in tight maneuver. Suddenly, a burst of BLUE BUG PLASMA rips past the starboard bow.

Carmen maintains an uneasy composure:

Plasma, ma’am… from the planet.

Captain Deladier:
Bug Batteries… According to Military Intelligence, it’ll be random and light.
Drop status?

Co-pilot Zander:
Drop is… 53% complete, ma’am.

Two more bursts of bug plasma streak past.

Captain Deladier:
Steady as she goes, Number 1.

REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING
AND YOU WILL MAKE IT BACK ALIVE!

Through the narrow viewports inside each Viking landing craft, two pilots have an unclear view of the battlefield below. They search for blue flares signaling safe landing zones, but the flares are obscured by Bug plasma-blasts exploding into the sky. Thousands of Bugs boil out of the ground to defend against the invaders.

GUIDANCE COMPUTER:
…surface in five… four … three…

The Landing Craft touchdown in a patch of bug-infested badlands called Hell’s Half Acre. The ramps drop and Roughnecks pour out screaming:

“YEAAHHHHHRGG!”

The Roughnecks join a fattening flow of Troopers swelling out of nearby pods. Flares and Bug plasma light up the sky over and behind their line.

The charge slows — some of the Troopers are already out of breath.

Dizzy: Where…?

THUMP.
THUMP-THUMP. THUMP.

The ground trembles — are these ‘Warriors’?
Rasczak: “Party’s over the ridge!” “Roughnecks, MOVE UP!”

THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

Birdie: “Sounds bigger than Tanker Bugs…”

The squad makes their way up a hill, climbing for a better view of the infested landscape. The thumping is accompanied by a cricket-like “cooing”. When the Troopers reach the ridge, they keep low, then peek over —

The flat basin below is crawling; the surface swirls almost psychedelically as a convoy of hardened beige, yellow, and red carapaces — each striped black, each reflecting silvery moonlight — usher Bug royalty: Several dozen Arachnid Warriors are escorting a host of smaller bugs; both classes, however, are tasked to support a third:

Two enormous, seven-ton Plasma Bugs, each perhaps 60 feet tall, have been causing the tremors. The semi-translucent giants lumber along and ‘coo’. Their song draws the smallest of the bugs toward their abdomen:

Rico:
‘The hell kind of bug is that ?
Jonny jumps the magnification on his “heads up”.

Dizzy whispers to Jonny:
Have you seen how they do it?

Jonny shakes his head. Swollen BREEDER BUGS gather around the plasma bug to inject it with their catalytic jelly.

Ace:
Agghh! That sh** makes me sick…

The plasma bug writhes in pain and begins to swell, color changing from
yellow to blue in accordance with some violent internal chemical reaction.

Sugar:
She’s gonna pop!

WOMP! Twin blasts of bug plasma streak past them towards the Heavens.

Rasczak moves down the line giving orders:

I want pulse cannons there, and there!
Rifle teams, spread out along the ridge!
Rico, nuke those bugs!

Rico looks up — his posture bends him almost backward — “Sir!”

The natural aggression of the Arachnid Warriors draws the horde away from the Plasma Bugs, up the steep ridge, and straight into the Trooper’s rifles:

Sgt. Zim: Let ’em have it!

Their muzzles flare up at once. Chunks of bugs flying here and there. Bug armor’s no match for the firepower of the Morita MK1 Pulse Rifle. None of the Warriors get a swipe, and the group of bugs is annihilated under concentrated fire.

Rico:
Here it comes!

Rico lets loose his warhead and the Troopers duck. The bomb sputters and spirals indirectly into the pit, and a small, poorly-rendered mushroom cloud envelops both of the giant Plasma Bugs. The shockwave passes over the Troopers’ shiny helmets.

Rasczak: Nice —
He leans in: You’ll make sergeant soon, kid.

A moment of calm follows their easy victory. Enough calm to hear gunfire and blood-curdling screams seeping in from all around. The ends of many men and women are accompanied by odd ‘clicking’ sounds, while ominous roars creep over the surrounding cliffs. Rising from above them, the night sky fills with pulsing blue spears of Bug plasma. Then, the ground trembles repeatedly as nearby mini-nukes decimate Warrior and Trooper alike — and a few of the Plasma Bugs, too. Rocks and boulders tumble down around our Beautiful Heroes.

In Orbit

At a safe distance from the melee below, Carmen turns her head to her captain — a growing doubt hangs over her face as the pulse of a red-alert lights up half her expressions. The other half of her face reflects the blue cast from the viewscreen, which is now thick with Bug plasma. The spears are passing all around the armada, and around the Rodger Young — though none make contact.

Zander, with restrained concern:
“It’s all for show, Carmen.”

A few of the corvettes and their support craft at the head of the line begin ascending into higher orbit, their mission complete. The Rodger Young is behind the Yamamoto and George Marshal, and all three ships have finished dropping their famous cargo — but they remain locked in a tight line worming through the sky; no captain is willing to break formation. Carmen and her co-pilot Zander’s beautiful faces hang even more anxiously. The fleet ahead now appears to be glowing; the Heavens are filled with plasma streaking past the ships on all sides.

The dark planet below continues to bristle with defensive fire.

Zander: If bugs could aim…

Zander’s face turns yellow-red right then. A small support frigate — just out of view — burns its aft-thrusters at their hottest, veering away from a Bug blast. Alas, the small ship swerved directly into another spear. The entire hull of the craft is engulfed in orange flame. Both Carmen and Zander’s face drop as they lean forward to witness a strange, new carnage…

Captian Deladier shakes her head as she leans forward:
“This isn’t light, someone made a mistake…”

Zander leans back:
That’s it, we’re empty ma’am.

The situation is changing rapidly all around the bridge. The mood shifts as the illusion of their security breaks down. The crew of the Rodger Young pauses, and the Captain’s mouth hangs slightly agape as she leans forward:

Through the viewscreen, a fiery-blue spear of rips through two of George Marshal’s aft pylons, dead-ahead. Both of her right ion engines flicker away as the remaining fuel ignites, sending them spiraling off-screen. The crippled exterminator spews fire from its fatal wound, then veers hard-right, straight into the Yamamoto.

Captian Deladier:
Someone made a BIG GOD-DAMNED MISTAKE!

Two corvettes fold together, and both ships begin to burn, then sink into the insectoid atmosphere.

Directly to the helm: Break for high orbit!

With several large ships above, Carmen directs the Roger Young — still carrying several hundred souls — down and underneath millions of tons of steel buckling ahead.

Debris and bits of squirming flesh emerge from the breaching alloy. The star-borne crews freeze suddenly into a new, and very cold reality — one devoid of air.

The Roger Young ducks the unfolding disaster, passing underneath most of the ejected crew:

Carmen dodges past the burning ships, avoids collision with Dauntless, and then KA-WHAM! They’re hit! Carmen flies out of her station and into the CAMERA.

A pulse of Bug plasma grazes the nose of the Rodger Young and opens a deck or two to the void.

Captain Deladier:
Report!

Carmen:
Minor hull damage —
Vital systems functioning.
We’re venting atmosphere from deck 16…

Garbled comms chatter from the confused armada fills the now unstable bridge:

-lagship to Bull Ru-…-djust your course to — ,
Reports comi- in — 86 dead, 22 wounded on the —
-WE’RE LOS—

KA-WHAM! The Rodger Young takes a direct hit and is cut in two. Her four ion engines shine brightly before the rear section explodes… the forward section begins to burn towards the bridge.

Two-thirds of the ship are suddenly gone. Carmen and Zander are thrown into their consoles by the plasma strike, and then again by the shockwave from the drive section’s implosion. There’s a power-surge behind the young, beautiful co-pilot’s controls; Zander goes head-first into the bright discharge.

Captain Deladier:
“Evacuates the bridge!“
“All hands to escape pods!”

There’s only a few remaining. Carmen is dazed, so she’s left behind. The power fails and everything goes dark, and almost quiet — except for some rumbling and ‘hissing’ sounds from ruptured conduits. Carmen is bruised, disoriented, and finds herself alone. How long…? No tears, but a drop of blood crawls down her cheek, and her jaw hangs slightly agape, as if in awe.

Comms are silent. The bridge around her spins; the remains of the Rodger Young tumble gently through space. The remaining air slips slowly out a nearby hull-breach.

Carmen, spun, quietly looks around,
Past the glittering consoles pulsing red all around;
She looks at her dead co-pilot;
It’s amazing how quickly things can change.

Carmen, the Shining One, averts her gaze from what’s become the only source of light on the bridge — dizzying stars, and the red-blue carnage gliding just a little too fast across the view-screen. She looks down below the screen — she’s spun enough. Even so, she keeps her eyes slightly open. She takes a deep breath to collect herself and the last of the air runs out —

A third spear of plasma strikes the remains of the Rodger Young, vaporizing the tumbling head instantly. Flaming bits from several other capital ships cross paths once more before the wreckage disperses into the bardo of deep-space.

The battlegroup is in disarray. The remaining ships in the Terran armada retreat back to Fleet Battlestation Ticonderoga. The catastrophe can be seen from the ground — red plasma streaks across the sky, tracing the remains of starships once soaring over our Troopers’ collective, weary gaze.

Would you like to know more?

Sources:

1. Heinlein, R. A. (2016). Starship Troopers.
2. ‘Starship Troopers’ (1997, Screenplay),

All images are the property of TriStar Pictures.

Track: Steve Roach, ‘Deeper… Still’