He then got the news that he was the only member of Rho Squadron had survived Urona Sigma. When he woke up, he was clutching a zergling tooth. Virgil managed to kill it but was knocked unconscious. Virgil got to the evacuation dropship, but a zergling got in. They attempted to evacuate, but Birch refused to leave, and tried to fight the zergling swarm on his own. On Urona Sigma, Rho Squadron was overwhelmed by a swarm of zerglings. Virgil and Birch shot the zergling, but not before it had killed Dave. However, a sensor tower malfunction allowed zerglings to get into the barracks Rho Squadron was stationed in, and one attacked Dave. The squad then moved to Seti, where they were stationed on a base.
The squad advanced, but Albee was ambushed by a group of zerglings burrowed underground and slaughtered. On Asteria, Rho Squadron was to push with an armored company to destroy a zerg hive nestled in the Long Shadow canyons. A swarm of zerglings attacked their garrison, and got into their trenches, killing Irmscher. He ordered Rho Squadron to dig trenches surrounding the communications relay of Lawndale 12, which they were ordered to protect.
Rho Squadron was shipped to Anselm, and fought in the Battle of Lawndale 12. He considered the change in Albee from a murderer to a peaceloving giant proof of the success of the resocialization program. On Nephor II, he witnessed a woman scream that one of his resocialized marines, Albee, was the "Butcher of Pridewater." This inspired him to look into the marine's history, which revealed that he was a murderer who plagued the capital city of Pridewater for ten years. Nevertheless, he loved and respected his squad, and would often drink and play poker with them. Snorggs's Thruster Wax in order to remind him of his days thruster boarding. He picked on Irmscher for his naïve attitude toward a woman he only briefly met, and on Dave for carrying a canister of Mr. Virgil became close friends with Birch, a former mechanic from Shiloh, and they would often talk about life issues. He was shipped along to a wide variety of fronts, and became close to the men he commanded. Virgil Caine was the sergeant in command of Rho Squadron during the Brood War.