Kenneth and Eugene look at the episode where people should be court-martialed, but they aren’t.
Episode Synopsis
An Army team lands on the planet Tellus looking for survivors. They come under heavy Chig attack and must evacuate, but not before they capture one survivor, who is rather unwilling to leave. He madly raves about being “…the farthest man from home.”
The Fightin’ 58th are awaiting their next mission. Their current position is near Tellus, a planet West never thought he’d see. He’s wistful about his dead colonist girlfriend, Kylen, who was one of the colonists massacred on Tellus.
West observes the Army shuttle return from Tellus and sees the survivor, in biohazard containment, placed into confinement. That gives him an idea.
Meanwhile, the survivor is questioned by Sewell, one of the Board of Directors of the Aerotech corporation. The corporation that funded the Tellus colony project. He’s in possession of information about the Chig that was recovered on Mars, and he wants the survivor to confirm what he knows. He doesn’t, and Sewell warns that they’ll re-educate him and make him forget everything that happened on Tellus.
The 58th are given their new assignment, they’ll be heading off to another star system, but West has other ideas. He manages to contact the prisoner, asks about Kylen, and when he gives an obtuse answer, West decides to steal his Hammerhead and try to rescue her from the planet.
Colonel McQueen notices his absence and promises to bust his butt. Later. As explained in the previous episode, McQueen will not tolerate any insubordination in his squadron.
So, of course, Vansen and Tank immediately disobey orders and go after him.
Tellus is what the Jarheads call a “hot” planet – that is, it’s under Chig control – and so, in very short order, West’s Hammerhead is shot down. He survives the crash and begins searching. He finds definitive signs that several humans survived the attack, and Kylen was among the survivors. Following a needlessly obtuse clue, West tries looking in the hills, where he finds a cave with two human survivors, but neither is Kylen. They have survived because the cave is a sacred burial area, and the Chigs will not enter. There were other survivors, including Kylen, but they’ve all been captured and are undoubtedly dead by now.
Undeterred, he goes to the place where the Chigs took the humans and oversees several prisoners being escorted somewhere in chains.
Vansen and Tank are searching from orbit when they, too, come under Chig attack. Tank is shot down and crashes conveniently near West. Vansen flees and calls for help.
West and Tank find each other but come under Chig ground assault. Things are looking bad when the 58th, on McQueen’s orders, provides them with covering fire as an Army personnel carrier arrives to rescue them from the planet.
Back on the carrier, it’s time for Commodore Ross to get some answers, as the cascading chain of idiots to explain and shoulder blame for everyone’s actions. Obviously, they’re all for a court-martial, except they’re not. “You will forget about this and not discuss it with anyone, dismissed.”
McQueen speculates that somebody much higher up put the boot on Commodore Ross.
So, alls’ well that ends well, right?
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