651 – Space Above and Beyond – Ray Butts

Kenneth and Eugene discuss and ask how many people it is acceptable to kill to bury the already dead.

Episode Synopsis

An unidentified Marine ship approaches the Saratoga, ignores all attempts to communicate, and when docking permission is denied, it just overrides the Saratoga’s computers and docks anyway.  In the landing bay, the occupant, Lt. Colonel Raymond T. “Killer” Butts, is dead.  No, he’s not, and he beats up the entire hanger team single-handedly.

Grilled about what’s going on by Colonel McQueen, Butts will only give name, rank, and serial number and refuses to cooperate, but he’s not under arrest — although, since he hacked the Saratoga’s computers, he should be.  Oh, and he’s a prejudiced asshat about tanks, too.

The gang is trying to review Butts’ ship’s navigational logs, but Butts shows up and is really hurtful to them until he learns they’re the Fightin’ 58th.  He’s not impressed by them.

In the Rec Area, Tank override’s the TV’s censor chip, and Butts comes in and gives them a dressing down.  Wang tries to stand up to him, but he ends up in a fight with all of them.  No ifs, ands, or buts: Butts is an unpleasant fellow.

Colonel McQueen is not having any of this and will get Butts kicked on the Saratoga, so Butts pulls some top-secret orders out of his butt.  No only is he not leaving, he’s here on a mission, he’s taking command of the Fightin’ 58th for a special mission, and there’s nothing McQueen can do about it.

The next day, he’s training the 58s by playing paintball with them without safety glasses, and he wipes them all over the floor and is a jerk while doing it.

They bitch about him in front of McQueen, and so McQueen tells them to “suck it up, buttercups” and do the job – and look after each other in the process.

Killer tries having a conversation with Butts but accomplishes nothing in the end. Save for a disquieting feeling that Butts is leading them on a suicide mission.

The next day, they ship out to planet 20-63M, and Butts tells them the mission.  Recover some Hammerheads concealed on the planet’s surface.  It’s a Chig-occupied planet, so they’ll have to HALO jump in.  “But Colonel Butts,” they say, “we don’t know how to HALO jump.”  

“It’s just like falling out a plane,” and then sends them out the door.

On the surface, Butts changes his mind and says they’ve got a new mission, but the gang has had enough; they stand firm against Butts and demand he tell them what’s going on.  He capitulates and tells them to secure their stuff, and he’ll tell them afterward.  Instead, he runs off on his own.

They find him burying the bodies of his previous squad. They disobeyed his orders on their last mission and died because of it.  He has brought a squad of living, breathing soldiers on a dangerous, covert, behind-the-lines operation just to bury a bunch of stiffs.  Butts’ sense of perspective is way out of whack.

After giving a touching burial ceremony, Butts explains the escape plan, flying past a dangerous black hole, where there will be special Red Chig fighters that can take a shorter route around the black hole.  Some of you are going to die on this mission.  Say your goodbyes, and let’s hit space.

On the flight back, they encounter the Chigs, and Butts plunges into the danger zone of the black hole to destroy the two Red Chig fighters, saving the 58th, but dying in the process.  Well, at least he doesn’t have to face a court martial.