After Gossard receives a minor injury, Rico is assigned a Marauder suit for their mission upriver to capture a Brain Bug. But what they find is a nursery for new and even more dangerous species. Razak calls in an airstrike, but Rico is separated from the squad and is in its path as his Marauder runs out of power.

Rico lies in the Zegema Beach Hospital, hovering in a coma between life and death as a monsoon knocks out the power. In his delirium, Rico flashes back to high school with Dizzy, Carl, Carmen and Razak, and basic training with Drill Sergeant Zim.

Rico, still in the base hospital, reports hearing strange noises, convinced that Bugs are about to attack, leading his doctor to contemplate giving Rico a Section 8 discharge for PTSD. Meanwhile, the Roughnecks seem to be constantly at each other's throats as they map the strange tunnels out in the jungles of Tesca Nemerosa, and  It soon becomes clear that Rico was the "glue" that held the squad together.