Authors Note: this is my first fanfic so my story telling might not be that good but I hope I can improve with time and with your reviews. Please feel free to criticise my work English is not my native language so tell me if my wording is a little odd.

In this opening I'm introducing the characters I'll use in my story at some time. Please leave your reviews as they'll help my story a great deal. Finally the name of this chapter comes from the book "Cloud Atlas" from David Mitchell I thought it was meaningful to the chapter itself.

The opening went through a major revision. Originally it had 2 parts, but now I merged them into one so you can jump right to the story after the first chapter

Some dates are formatted as A.J After Judgement Day in my story the calendars depicts date like that

Circus is a special punishment during the Navy Seal's training for those who can't keep up the pace for the day

Opening: Truth is singular, its "versions" are mistruths

Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death,-

Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland,-

Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.

We've sniffed the green thick odour of his breath,-

Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't writhe.

He's spat at us with bullets, and he's coughed

Shrapnel. We chorussed when he sang aloft,

We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!

We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.

No soldier's paid to kick against His powers.

We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,

And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags

He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.

Wilfred Owen The next war

Museum of Liberation September 16th 55 A.J (2072)

Catherine Weaver, the famous liquid metal Admiral in her perfectly ironed Navy dress uniform, was leading a group of cadets of the C. Connor Academy of Military Science to the Museum of Liberation for a special visit on its third anniversary on the 40th Anniversary of the end of the war against Skynet. She then stood at the main entrance to the museum, and with a blank face and with characteristic commanding voice asked the group that was staring at her with profound respect and attention

"Can someone tell me why was this museum built and its importance?" A young dark-haired, cadet raised his hand

"You, there what is your name cadet?" Catherine Weaver asked with an impetuous voice

"Cadet Becker ma'am"

"Will you answer my question, Cadet?" The young men did not hesitate his answer

"Admiral Weaver ma'am, the Museum of Liberation was built to commemorate the enduring survival of both our species and the forgiveness of humanity towards the non-organic sentient beings and its acceptance as equals."

"Interesting answer cadet Becker. But, tell me why do you think it commemorates the forgiveness and acceptance of humanity towards my kind?" The Admiral replied with a mix of pride and yet a slight of indignation and challenge.

"Admiral Weaver, with all due respect you and your species deserve I believe so due to the efforts of our dear Grand General Connor since the beginning of the war. He always fought for the acceptance of cyborgs amongst humans, and he always proved wrong those who said that your species were nothing but murdering machines. He taught us that your species could be so much more and we needed you to survive as much as you needed us. Also, his marriage to Commander Cameron Connor never ceased to amaze humans and machines, no wonder their relationship is still the source of so many legends and literary works as well as movies. Therefore we could not have won the war against Skynet without the alliance between our species".

"Certainly impressive Cadet, you are indeed a very well versed human. However, I would like you to refer to my kind as Cyborgs or non-organic sentient beings not as machines. If I hear that one more time I will personally write your name on the list of people attending the "Circus" once we go back to the Academy, understood cadet?"

"Yes ma'am my apologies" Admiral Weaver smiled at him before taking several steps around the group of cadets she was more than pleased with imposing fear from time to time.

"Does anyone else would like to answer my original question?" Weaver asked the cadets waiting to see if she could find more interesting opinions. This time a green-eyed young lady addressed the Admiral

"What is your name cadet?"

"Reese, Jenna Reese, ma'am"

The cadet draw the attention of the whole group, though Admiral Weaver already knew her identity since she first walked towards the group of the recently accepted at the academy of military science. And made her remember the Reese brothers, as she fought side by side with them on more than one occasion, even if the older of the Reese brothers Derek Reese called her a liquid metal bitch from time to time. But, after saving each other several times, both learned to respect each other to the point where they could call each other "friend". She couldn't help herself but smile at those memories of his now deceased friend Derek Reese who she missed dearly.

"I fought alongside your ancestor Derek Reese, a truly remarkable man I might say, alright let's hear what you have to say," Admiral Weaver said expecting to hear something that could live up to the name of his friend Colonel Derek Reese.

"Ma'am, this museum is the first of its kind it honours our heroes both the victorious and the fallen it depicts how we were outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched and yet both our species prevailed against those insurmountable odds. It doesn't favour one nation over another, or a species over another it commemorates the people who gave the world faith, a future but most importantly those who made us believe again even when we were on the brink of extinction. And as my fellow Cadet stated before it commemorates the survival of cyborgs and humans and what we can achieve together."

"Indeed, a most impressive response. Your ancestor would be pleased to hear you"

This time the infamous Admiral Catherine Weaver had a hard time fighting her voice to sound normal as something similar to sadness could be heard in her voice. Certainly, Skynet lost the war, but it cost dearly to the Allied Resistance, so many good men, and cyborgs ceased to exist. The lucky ones received a proper burial, or their parts were used to repair other allied terminators, but the not so lucky ones ended in unmarked graves in the wastelands or their remains left to be rotten away to fed the animals that roamed the wastelands and in the case of the allied terminator their parts scrapped by Skynet to produce new terminators that would bring more death and destruction to the already devastated Earth.

And among those who perished during the dark years of the war, was the man she cherished the most someone who became her best friend and confident her dear Mr James Ellison or uncle James as her daughter Savannah used to call him. He died a hero, and with his actions, the Allied resistance was able to successfully escape an ambush of a T-1001 saving hundreds of good soldiers including the life of Savannah Weaver. He was officially declared MIA, because, his remains were never found, nor any registry of his body being processed in a Skynet facility or a Workcamp. Yet Catherine Weaver knew very well the odds of surviving against one of her kind. Fighting an endoskeleton based terminator was one thing, but facing a liquid metal terminator was something very different. However, Mr Ellison was able to delay the machine long enough for the resistance to capture several Aerial HK's and then blow to hell the factory.

"Dear James, you could have called for back up, or ordered the immediate retreat of the strike force you were indeed a hero, but at that point the war already had enough dead heroes, you foolish man. " Weaver thought to herself.

"Attention cadets, consider yourselves lucky you were just accepted to the most prestigious academy of military science. And today you are here on an exceptional day not only because is our Liberation day, but you will also have the chance to learn more about our heroes and listen to the stories directly from our veterans and survivors. Also, there is a very special exhibition that will open to the public next week that we have the chance to visit"

The group was standing straight awaiting orders, some of them were still wondering why they were there like little children. Others like the cadet Jenna Reese were proud to be there to appreciate what their ancestors have done, and behold their legacy; some might be long dead, but they were immortalised here and on everyone's mind as long as the Liberation day remains.

The group enters the museum ever with discipline, once they cross the main doors of the first exhibition hall they behold an enormous sculpture of one Resistance soldier and a T-888 raising the resistance flag together

"An incredible piece of work from my goddaughter Sarah Ellison, I wish his father lived long enough to see that glorious day, when we finally defeated Skynet, and we were free to roam the earth. At least my friend Derek lived through it, unfortunately, he passed away 10 years later when he lost his war against leukaemia. The human body is certainly fragile but, Skynet is to blame the radiation from the bombs caused his death" the Admiral Catherine thought for herself before addressing the group once again.

"Cadets this sculpture has incredible value, not only it represents brotherhood among our species, it also represents that finally humanity was able to overcome all its differences and became one" The group nodded, they learnt at school before about the racial and ethnic problems mankind had before J-Day.

Among the group Jenna Reese stared at the sculpture, she grew up listening to the stories her family told her about the war about the liberation day. She particularly liked to listen to the stories about Aunt Cameron, the cyborg she idolised to the point to dye her hair the same shade of brown of Cameron's hair. Even in every family reunion she would take a photograph with her, or ask her auntie to teach her to shoot rifles and handle plasma weaponry. She wanted to be like her always courageous always brave, yet so devoted to her husband the Grand General John Connor who she could call Uncle John. She then shifted her gaze to Catherine Weaver who also happened to be a close friend of her family, and now the temporary head of the Cameron Connor Academy of Military Science. Jenna Reese was happy she was one step closer to become like Cameron, she just hopped to live up to her family reputation and make them proud as much as she was proud of them.

Admiral Weaver realised how Jenna was staring at her, it still was a strange sensation for her that humans were mostly not afraid of her anymore and some crazy enough admired her. She finally instructed the cadets about how they would proceed through the museum and walked to their rear. Then with utmost discretion placed her hand on Jenna's shoulder.

"Thinking about Uncle John and Aunt Cameron?" Jenna nodded

"I still think about them more than I would like to admit, you can say I miss them too. They gave us so much more than we deserved. I wonder what would they be doing? It's been fifteen years"

"I'm sure they're still together Admiral Weaver, we both know they would fight another Skynet with their bare hands before ever leaving each other. I miss aunt Cameron so much"

"I know my dear, you always wanted to be like her. I'm sure she would be proud of you right now." Admiral Weaver gently squeezed Jenna's shoulder trying to reassure her. She knew very well that they deserved the peace they were enjoying right now, they sacrificed so much, but maybe today they might be able to see them again. Then both ladies walked forward to rejoin the group of cadets who were now staring at a group of decommissioned T-1's

The group of cadets moved slowly through the exhibition hall, where several images displayed portraits of the most prominent members of the resistance as well as paints of crucial battles during the war. However, some of the cadets were also looking the museum itself as it was a masterpiece on its own. The museum was commissioned to Richard Young 12 years after the end of the war, several years before John Connor and Cameron Connor were seen for the last time. Perhaps it was the intention of the Architect Richard Young to portray somehow the rough conditions humanity have had in the past. Mostly made of concrete and steel although the construction was tasteful and elegant, even the disposition of the lighting enhanced the charming effect of the building.

Admiral Weaver realised that some of the paintings and its respective descriptive plates were exaggerated beyond of what really happened, though she knew that sometimes humans did this, they need to believe in something, something that gives them hope. One special paint caught her attention, it was about the battle for the defence of the Serrano Point power plant from when Skynet launched a massive attack in hopes to retake the powerplant. Though the resistance was able to fend off wave after wave of the Skynet war machine. In the painting, there were no injured soldiers, and all of them had a fierce determination and an imposing fearlessness on their faces.

"How curious, I remember some men clutching their weapons in fear, and other with clear desperation cursing at the Skynet forces." she thought to herself.

The Cadets continued their walk around the museum, when a particular display stood in front of them, there was a set of different endoskeleton terminators on display from T-600's to the more advanced T-888's and T-900's, some belonged to the Resistance, and some other were Skynet's troops. However among the various terminator models, were two that made Admiral Weaver stare and most of the group too. She knew those endos, and a faint smile appeared on her face before a male cadet with asian facial features addressed her.

"Permission to speak ma'am", Admiral Weaver simply nodded acknowledging his request.

"Are the stories about Commander Cameron Connor true? I heard her original body here on display was rendered damaged beyond repair, while saving the life of the Grand General from an entire fireteam of T-900's led by a T-1001." Admiral Weaver chuckled

"Well Cadet, the truth was slightly exaggerated she did fend off the attack against the Grand General. But, they didn't attack at the same time the T-1001 struck first severely damaging her indeed. When she handled the terminator, she then realised it had a backup, and they were coming at her, and there were just two T-900's. What happened next... well she and the Grand General dispatched the pair of machines, one of their most significant stands against our enemies, but it came at a price. Even the Grand General wasn't sure if he could retrieve Cameron's chip from her damaged chassis after the skirmish, and that made our general terribly sad, yet the odds played in his favour, and the chip was recovered without a scratch. A few months later the scientists in charge of the Lucifer project produced the first working prototype of a new kind of Terminator under the codename T-X and gave it to the Grand General to put Cameron's chip in it."

"Admiral why was that project called Lucifer?" the cadet asked with sincere curiosity on his face.

"Well the answer is quite simple, whenever one of our soldiers from the Lucifer project went to battle hell did break loose every time, but it also meant that there were serious problems that required heavy troopers."

She couldn't help but smile, after all, she secretly helped the team that developed the Lucifer project which proved crucial after Skynet developed the T-900's. Admiral Weaver stared a few more seconds, what she thought before was true today she was able to see Commander Cameron again, or at least what remained of her and her legacy for all the non-organic sentient beings. While she walked away, she remembered when they first met all those years ago at her office at the top of the Zeira Corp tower before Judgement day.

The plate beneath the feet of Cameron's former bodies had a little paragraph about her. Admiral Weaver explained that before her stand against the T-1001 and the pair of T-900's, she held no rank officially. But, everyone knew she was implicitly the second in command, the personal enforcer of the Grand General John Connor, as well as his own bodyguard when she wasn't on any assignment. After she received the first T-X prototype combat chassis in the Lucifer project, she was appointed the commander of the Lucifer division and all its later iterations. The Lucifer division itself operated as an independent group that answered only to the Grand General, they proved highly effective in combat with the highest success ratio in all the resistance only rivalled by the TechCom SpecOps group.

The group arrived at the second to last hall where pictures of the most prominent members were displayed, for Admiral Weaver this was the most exciting and nostalgic section of this entire museum. Perhaps, it would be the most for any veteran and the generation who grew up through the conflict. All the people here were crucial and displayed the most heroic acts through all the war. The first section was dedicated to several members of the intelligence division which was renamed as National Security Service after the war. Also, in the hall were displayed images of people from several branches of the resistance.

Admiral Catherine Weaver gathered the group and addressed them

"Cadets, this man here is Mr James Ellison, before Judgment Day he was an FBI agent. After Judgment Day, the Grand General saw the imperative need to create an organism that could handle all the intelligence and counterintelligence operations, thus trusted Mr James Ellison to see to the creation of such entity and appointed him as the Director due to his previous work as an FBI agent and his expertise. The organisation he created proved successful as it acquired, or intercepted vital information of essential personnel and facilities, as well as, stalling and preventing strikes against the resistance by Skynet. With their work and the audacity and military genius of the Grand General eventually led us to victory."

"This lady here is Allison Young, she was appointed as temporary head of the intelligence division after Mr Ellison was declared MIA, then her appointment became permanent by the recommendation of Commander Cameron Connor. She also proved quite capable and surpassed all expectations. She also received many decorations for her bravery on the battlefield, and one medal of honour for her involvement in the capture of the USS Missouri. The Grand General offered her to be discharged after she and the General Nikolai Kozhevnikov in charge of European theatre operations led the resistance to the capture of the Battlecruiser Kirov and the Aircraft Carrier Admiral Kuznetsov a ship that served as the flagship of the resistance Navy until the Missouri was re-conditioned to be operated by humans. However Allison Young refused to be discharged and carried on her duty as head of intelligence until her retirement 12 years ago."

"This fine gentleman here is Greg Johnson a T-1001 and a highly awarded Intelligence operative, he is one among the non-organic beings who have truly remarkable combat skills. He even managed to earn a place on the list of Skynet's high priority targets for termination. Actually, he rarely engaged in a firefight or any kind of direct confrontation. The enemy never saw him coming, but they knew he had struck them whenever they found beheaded Terminators and its heads cut in half, that's why he earned the nickname of The ghost. Due to his combat skills, he was offered a position among the Alpha team of the Lucifer division directly under the command of Commander Cameron Connor but, he refused the idea of it, arguing that his service at intelligence would help the Resistance more than on the battlefield. Actually, he serves as second in command at the National Security Service, and he still refuses to leave the organisation."

Next to Johnson picture was one of other two female NSS members, both Asian the first one was to the left was clearly taller black hair and a slender frame, with an elegant yet charismatic aura around her, and an even more charming smile. To her right was a shorter young girl, her hair was clearly dyed blonde with blackened roots and a nasty plasma burn on her left arm and shrapnel scars on her neck and a small part of her left cheek.

"These ladies here are Marissa Zhang to the left, she served as liaison to the Asian theatre and helped the Grand General put the resistance together in what was left of China, Japan, both Koreas, and all the neighbouring countries. She was terminated just before the capture of the Admiral Kuznetsov, the assassin responsible for her termination, a Skynet grey was captured alive two days later by the Ghost."

"To the next is Miss Jeon Somin, a distinguished counterintelligence operative, she led to the capture of several Skynet spies within our ranks. Also, she happened to be a skilled hand to hand combatant and a very deadly sniper. Miss Somin retired 3 years after Skynet's defeat, then left to Busan in her natal Korea, to see to the rebuilding efforts."

"Finally, I would like you to watch this picture, there are other two important people for the resistance. This was taken onboard the Admiral Kuznetsov, to the left is Carlos who at the time was the second in command for the Lucifer division, one of Commander Cameron's most trusted warriors, and he is now the commander of the Lucifers." Admiral Weaver wasn't particularly fond of him, not that she was the most social among other machines, but they had some sort of rivalry when it came to naval warfare tactics.

"In the centre of the image is Jesse Flores, At the time she was only a Captain, then due to her battle performance she was promoted to Vice-Admiral near the end of the war and was placed in charge of all the submarine operations until she retired in the 45 A.J. She now has a small farm in Australia."

Admiral Weaver hesitated for a few milliseconds, the last person in the picture was her, not because the image was several years old. But, because of she somehow, missed all the action of the battles she fought in, and attacks she lead against Skynet "The glorious days of battle" she thought to herself, and a small smirk appeared on her face.

"And well I don't really need to tell you who the last person is, she is standing in front of you right now", she said calmly as if it was the most natural thing on Earth.

"At the time our fleet was no more than a ragtag group of ships and a few submarines coming from all over the world, some were really vulnerable while other were retrofitted with plasma weaponry and specialised weapons to fight Skynet's Krakens."

After a few hours, the group of cadets arrived at the hall where the new exhibition was mounted. Though more than an exhibition it was a tribute to two particular people. There were images, some videos of the two of them as well as videos with testimonies of people who knew them on a personal level or served under them. Among all the items there was a small sculpture of two hands with their fingers intertwined one evidently belonged to a human while the second one was a terminator's with servomotors and small pistons. It was quite small for a Terminator of any class, except for a custom built infiltration model. Beneath it was a little plate with a short inscription: "In honour of John Connor and Cameron Connor whose love changed our world." A few words indeed, but a powerful reminder that both species could thrive together, and all differences could be overcome with will and determination.

The Admiral began addressing the group and the first she told them, was that in the beginning, she couldn't believe that a human could fall in love with a machine, with a Terminator who was initially designed for one and only purpose to kill him. Until, she witnessed it by herself when the Grand General jumped through time, to an absolute unknown full of dangers to get her back. "If I were human I'd certainly consider it very romantic." she thought to herself, as she recalled perfectly the day they jumped in time using her TDE in the basement of Zeira Corp before resuming her speech

"Now, I'm certain you have heard all of the stories about their love, but I would like to tell you how it happened as I'm one of the few still alive who witnessed it first hand."

Admiral Weaver was telling the group her version of the story about how the Grand General Connor and Commander Cameron Connor meet and fell in love even before the bombs dropped on Judgment Day when without notice a large door opened and two figures emerged from a large corridor behind the doors.

"Catherine, you are talking as if we were dead, and we're clearly not," The Grand General said in a loud voice drawing the attention of the whole group, certainly even after all the years his voice was still a commanding voice, and next to him holding his hand was Cameron Connor. Both of them seemed completely happy. Cameron smiled lightly and addressed Admiral Weaver.

"Admiral Catherine Weaver. it's been a while."

The whole group was speechless, completely dumbstruck all of them stared intensely, and a few jaws dropped at the sight of the legends themselves in front of them. Even Catherine Weaver did not know how to react and stood still like most of the cadets at her charge. Finally, she regained her pose and issued an order "Attention!" and then at unison all cadets saluted the Grand General. He was still uncomfortable when people did this, but today September 16th was Liberation day, the most important day for all the people and cyborgs living on Earth. So he decided to let it slide for now, in response John, and Cameron saluted back at them "At ease, cadets" Cameron ordered with a soft tone in her voice.

Cameron quickly analysed everyone in the group, ever vigilant scanning for any potential threats for John, ever concerned about John's safety, old habits die hard. Another smile appeared on her face as she recognised a special lady in the midst of the cadets, her niece, Jenna Reese. Their eyes meet, and Jenna smiled back at Cameron she never thought she would be able to see her again. After all, both of them disappeared without notice some 15 years ago, she couldn't be any happier though she had to suppress the urge to run to them and hug them. Jenna had to remember that she was now a cadet at the Cameron Connor Academy of Military Science, meaning that both John and Cameron were in one way or another her superior officers, and a lack of discipline from her could stain her family's honour.

John and Cameron walked forward still holding their hands, to be close to the group so they could hear them better. John smiled at Weaver who smiled back in reply and moved to the side so they could take her place. Admiral Weaver couldn't help but notice that the Grand General didn't seem like an old man. Then Admiral Weaver leaned in so he could only hear her

"You don't seem like your age General, you look different" Admiral Weaver said more as a statement than a question evidently

"That's classified Catherine" Cameron replied bluntly as she usually did. John sighed and decided to change the subject

"Well, that's a quite interesting story the Admiral here was telling you," John said addressing the cadets and Cameron couldn't help but chuckle

"However, I would like to tell you myself how I fell in love with the lovely, and brave lady here at my side..." And like this memories began flooding his mind recalling all the events as if they had happened yesterday, all the while never letting go of Cameron's hand.