Author Notes: Something a little bit different in this what-if. Skynet and John Connor are both based out of North America in what becomes a global conflict. Whilst John Connor must be the savior of mankind, what becomes of the rest of the world after Judgment Day? Are there others that rise to prominence in the Resistance in different parts of the world?
Set in the T:SCC timeline.
I Don't Need To Fight
by Edward Twinletoes
Prologue : The Mission
The heat was oppressive. There was no respite brought by the wind, which was oven hot and none to be found in the shade. The day was hot, and it was a heat that could break the spirits of even the strongest men.
She watched from a safe distance, concealed by the foliage of a tree, as her prey, her Primary Objective trudged gamely through the heat along a dusty sidewalk. He was a tall man, blond and unassuming in his height he looked uncomfortable in the way he moved, walking almost self consciously.
When she had been given this mission she'd never anticipated just how hard it would be to trace this man, whilst retaining her cover. She had in the end (after being sent back to the year 2007 by John Connor) decided that the only option, if she wanted to keep a close eye on the man she had been sent back to protect, would be to join the Royal Australian Navy alongside of him.
During the 11 weeks of basic training where all the Navy recruits were kept sheltered from the world and close together it had proven an easy task, but that had all changed with 9 small words on their graduation from "Recruit School".
"Getting Division, for the last time, turning right. Dismissed!"
How she hated those words. At the time, she had thrown her hat in the air and cheered alongside the rest of the graduating division, it was a good day to get out of what was almost a prison to the recruits.
She had thought long and hard during her time there about how best to protect the man. She had learned of where his first posting would be to in the future before being sent back, and she had enlisted in the Navy in a job category that would keep her at that same base for as long as possible. She had joined as a Medic, he had joined as a Marine Technician, both training courses would take a year.
Over the next few months after leaving recruit school she had very little contact with the man she had been sent back to protect as they lived, worked and ate at different places and at different times. It was very frustrating to her that she couldn't dedicate herself to the mans protection properly, but this was the price she had to pay so that she could live on the military base.
She was most afraid that something would happen during working hours. That she would find out about his death while she was in a class. From time to time her paranoia would lead to her having to find excuses to get away, to run reconnaissance over the base and to check in on the man while he worked. It was the best she could do.
That's why she watched the man now, as he walked back to his home after work. She would watch him from a distance until he was in his building. And then she would watch him at dinner. And then she would sit all night outside his bedroom.
She had been watching; protecting the man now for almost a year and they had almost never spoken. They had crossed paths, shared glances from time to time, but she knew he did not know her alias. She knew his name; it was encoded into her computer mind. She would never forget it.
She sat and watched outside his bedroom. He turned the lights out as he went to bed. She would sit there all night and watch over him. Nothing could happen to him, she would make sure of it. Nothing would harm James Taylor.
Chapter One: Brown Eyes
James Taylor was going to get slaughtered.
It was pay Thursday and the next day would only be a half day of work, so naturally everyone went out on the Thursday night to get as wasted as they possibly could. It was like this every payday, first they would start drinking at the pub on base. The Anchorage as it was called by the Navy members was only opened until 10pm of a night, but since the drinks were so cheap most people decided to "warm up" before going out to the clubs.
At work that day James and a couple of his mates had arranged to meet at the Anchorage after dinner before heading out. They had met up at the bar and started knocking the drinks down fast.
Sitting at one of the benches in the smokers pit, James looked over at one of his friends who was climbing from his seat. "Hey, Ben, where you going?"
"Off to the bar. You wanna 'nother drink, yeah?" Ben asked already knowing the answer.
"Cheers big fella. I got the next round," James chirped, thrilled that he wouldn't have to get off his seat and stand in line this time around.
James watched Ben as he stumbled off through the crowd towards the bar. Ben knew exactly what James wanted to drink. Big Ben, James thought to himself, was a good mate.
James turned to face his other friend who was playing with his phone. "Saturday night man, it's gonna be good!"
Glenn Forward was in training to be a medic, so James didn't see all that much of him other than when they went out on the weekends. Glenn was a bit older than most of the people James knew, he had short dark hair and a face that reminded James of one of the puppets off of Sesame Street. The one that looked like a vampire and liked to count in a funny accent.
"Yeah," Forward replied looking up. "Casino sounds good, hey."
James shrugged. "I'll have to watch you guys, I can't afford to lose any money. I'm short enough as it is."
"Don't worry about it." Forward said. "We'll probably only be there for a couple of hours before the clubs open."
"How much does it cost where we're staying?" James asked.
"Less than 300 at the Promenade. We get a Government Employee discount. So it'll be less than 70 each with 4 of us," Forward explained.
"True."
"I need to take a piss, look after my drinks," Forward said as he stood up and started towards the toilets.
"No worries man, they'll be here" James promised as he started to look around for someone he knew who'd have a cigarette he could bum.
He spotted a group of guys he'd gone through Recruit School with standing around a bench, picking up Glenn's drinks he walked over to them as steadily as he could. "Hey guys, anyone got a durry I could bum?"
"Taylor, how you going?" One of the guys asked as he produced a packet of cigarettes and a lighter before handing them over to James.
"Yeah it's going good, I'm almost halfway through my course. Another 6 months and I can get out of this dump, hey."
"That's cool," the guy with the cigarettes said. "We finish our course in 3 weeks. Can't wait to find out where I'm getting posted."
"You don't know yet?" James asked as he lit up a cigarette and handed the pack and lighter back.
"Not yet. Hopefully I'll be going North to Cairns. I don't think I can take the cold down here anymore. Gotta go back home where we get some real sunshine."
"No way, it's been bloody too hot here lately. You're insane if you want to go out there, Johno," James replied incredulously.
"Nah, I just grew up with it." Johno said. Beside him one of his mates grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Hey, Taylor, I'll catch you later, we're going into town now, are you coming out tonight?" Johno asked.
"Sure am, I'll probably see you in there." Taylor watched as Johno and his mates left the bar. Looking around he didn't see anyone else that he knew so he decided to stay where he was. He placed Glenn's drinks down on the bench and then went about trying to look as cool as possible while he stood by himself.
He leaned into the bench and was taking a deep self conscious drag on his cigarette when someone surprised him by taking the cigarette from his mouth.
Startled he didn't know what to say, all he could do was stare stupidly at the girl who stood in front of him. He'd seen her before, she was at Recruit School with him, but he couldn't remember her name.
She was a brunette, average in height, with an athletic build. She had a face that he could of sworn was a dolls, with smooth pale skin and a little nose. It was the eyes that stood out the most though, big, wide eyes. James couldn't take his gaze away from those eyes and just for a second he felt a strange, something, in his chest.
"Smoking is bad for you," the girl stated staring him right in the eyes, her head leaning slightly on to the side. Then she turned around and walked away, dropping the cigarette into an ashtray as she passed by.
James watched her for a moment before he could gather his thoughts again. "What the..." he muttered to himself. He closed his eyes, trying to gather his wits, but all he could see were those big eyes.
"There you are, thought you'd left or something man." Someone said behind him, bringing his thoughts away from the girl.
Looking around James saw Ben, who was carrying a drink in each hand. "JD's," Ben said and he handed one of the drinks to Taylor.
"Thanks." James said.
"Don't worry about it. Hey I'll be back in a second, I'm just gonna chuck some tunes on the duke box." Replied Ben as he hurried to the corner where the duke box sat.
"Throw the Rock-Lobster on," Forward said to Ben as he returned from the toilets. He pointed to the two drinks that were on the bench. "They mine?"
"Sure are." James replied quietly. "Hey do you know who that chick is?" He asked, pointing in the direction of the girl who'd stolen his cigarette.
"What, Wilkins?" Forward replied, surprised.
"Yeah, that's her name." James remembered.
Glenn looked at him for a moment before he said, "she's in my Medics course. She's a little bit.." but he couldn't find the word he was looking for so he let the sentence hang.
"A little bit what, man?" James asked a little bit annoyed.
Putting his hands up in surrender Glenn did his best to explain just what it was that put him out. "Alex is, I don't know exactly, she's just, strange. She just seems a little wacky. Know what I mean?"
"Not really," James said waving a hand to dismiss the question as Big Ben joined them and the Rock-Lobster started to play over the speakers.
He could have told the guys about what had happened, they would have slapped him on the back and probably encourage him to go and speak to the girl. He thought better of it though. For some reason he wanted to keep that moment, where he had locked gazes with those big, brown eyes, to himself.
Author Notes: The Prologue was a big short by itself, so I've thrown Chapter One in with it. Thank you very much to everyone who reads this. If you enjoyed it then please leave a review as that's the best way to keep a person (me) motivated to write more.