"Congratulations, Sergeant Monsignor", Lieutenant Coghill's voice says without mirth or sympathy, "it looks like you've been promoted.  See if you can do a better job than your predecessor.    Now, what's you status?  What's going on down there?  What happened?  Sensors show you've landed way off target."

Trooper Adams kicks free and shoves Trooper Jet away.  "Yeah? I'd like to see you try, ***hole!", Adams shouts around his cancer stick.  "I will put you in the f***ing ground!"

Several other Troopers circle the pair, eager to watch the fight.

Trooper Jet throws a punch at Trooper Adams' midsection, connecting solidly, but Adams retaliates by tackling Jet to the ground and jabbing at his ribs.

"*** this", Trooper Adams curses.  "I was kidding.  Jeez!  We're not morons Jet, and you're not our mother, so back off!"  Having made his attempt to save face, he leads the disappointed Troopers out to form a perimeter guard.

From behind Jet comes Monsignor's voice. "Is there a problem Trooper?", he asks.  "Looks like I'm Segeant now, so it's fallen on my shoulders to keep you grunts alive.  The LT says they can't land due to the interference like we recieved on the way down.  They're not sure what caused it, but sensors did pick up a power spike a few klicks from here.  We're to investigate and put a stop to whatever it is."

"You know these Troopers pretty well", he continues as he peers off into the fog, "What course of action do you suggest?"

The remaining troopers gather up their gear and begin moving slowly through the fog.  The sensor in their Mandelbrite armor should be able to detect incoming bugs, but the oppressive closeness of the fog makes everyone tense.  The terrain becomes rockier after a while, and begins to slowly rise.  Eventually the troopers find themselves looking over a slight ridge down into a depression.  In the center, large and visible even through the fog is what looks like a large, glowing pink crystal monolith, pulsing with alien energy.  This must be the source of the disturbance.  At the base of the monolith, barely visible at this distance through the fog, the "cat-things" stand in a ring, holding paws like some sort of perverse religious ceremony.  The thrumming of their voices echos in time with the pulsing of the crystal and the pounding at the back of the troopers' skulls.

Sgt Monsignor orders the troops to spread out and surround the enemy.  Jet quickly flips through his field manual for the proper ambush procedure, but there's no time.  The troopers move out.

The troopers come pouring out of the trees like a wave of death.  Jet cuts down 6 bugs before they even know what hit them.

The aliens charge up the hill through the mist, but they're no match for the trooper's superior firepower and technology.  Jet takes careful aim at one after another as they move up the hill toward him, until finally his rifle rings out one last time and all is still.  At the Sergeant's command, the men approach the monolith and begin to unload all of thier firepower upon it.  It finally exlpodes in to deadly, pink fragments that glance off of the remaining trooper's Mandelbrite armor.

A short time later, they can hear the distinctive scream of landing ships approaching the landing zone.

The remainder of the mission is uneventful.  The planet finally pacified, Trooper jet gets a package in the intra-ship mail.

"Trooper Jet_____ , for your distinction in battle on planet Bosch           and the 12       kills you aquired there, you have been awarded:

Campaign Medal (enclosed)

Crimson Sword (enclosed)

Wear them with pride, trooper."