Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep up the feedback.
A/N2: If you want TSCC to get a third season, I suggest you start writing to the WB. Make it clear to them that this show has loyal fans and that it MUST continue.
acer-sigma: You're definitely on to something regarding the mystery weapon. I already know exactly what is. So, I'll give you a little hint:
The weapon is especially useful when it comes to getting rid of the garbage.
(That's all I'm going to say for now.)
Anyway, here's Chapter 10. Enjoy!
Resistance Bunker Five, 2024
"Thrace, I'm only going to tell you this once more time. Hold still!" growled Doctor Thornton, the head of Bunker Five's infirmary.
At that moment, Kara was lying on a medical table, getting her plasma burn treated. She was not enjoying it. Not one bit. They had already given her several injections of antibiotics. Additionally, she now had a tube stuck in her veins that was pumping in new fluid to replace any she had lost due to her injury. The gauze had been removed, and now Kara was undergoing a bit of surgical debridement to get rid of any dead or possibly infected flesh. She had refused to accept skin grafts, but Thornton had insisted on at least cleaning the wounded area.
"Couldn't you give me something for the pain?" protested Kara.
"We did, Thrace." said an irritated Thornton.
"Well it's not working very well." Kara shot back, "Isn't there something else you could do?"
"Yeah, I could kiss it better. Would you like that?" Thornton asked sarcastically, "Now just keep quiet and this will all be over soon." Grumbling to himself about "whiners," Thornton went back to work.
Kara groaned inside her head. This guy was a bigger grouch than Doc Cottle. Okay, maybe he wasn't that bad, but he was pretty close.
The sedative she had received prior to the surgery was doing a reasonable job. Nevertheless, she kept feeling sudden and highly unpleasant jolts of pain in her shoulder. It wasn't so much the pain that she hated, as it was the random and unexpected times she felt it.
Kara winced as she felt another spark of pain in her shoulder. She did her best not fidget. If anything was worse than the random pain spikes, it was having to listen to Thornton's reprimands.
"There she is! Hey, Starbuck!"
Kara sat up, causing Thornton to curse loudly, and saw much to her delight Davy Griffin and Becka Feral standing at the doorway. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.
Thornton wasn't so happy. "What the hell are you people doing here?" he demanded, "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Sorry about that Doc," apologized Becka, "But we just want to talk to Private Thrace alone for a few minutes."
"You can see after I've released her." said an irate Thornton,
"When will that be?" Davy asked casually.
"If you keep asking stupid questions, never." replied Thornton impatiently.
"Look all we're asking for is five minutes." insisted Davy.
"Yeah, why don't you go on break for a bit?" suggested Becka.
"I don't need a break. I need you two to get out of here so I can get back to work!"
"Hey, listen Doc," Davy offered, "Just give us five minutes with Starbuck, and you'll never hear from us again. I promise."
Thornton thought about this offer for several seconds. Finally, he relented and put his surgical tools down on a tray.
"Alright." he growled, "Five minutes. And after that I don't want to see either of you in here until I've finished with Private Thrace. Is that clear?"
Becka and Davy nodded. They then stood aside as Thornton walked swiftly out of the room.
"Thanks, guys." said Kara happily, "I don't know how much longer I could stand being in the same room with that asshole."
"Hey, he's just doing his job, Starbuck," laughed Davy. "Anyway, Becka told me about what happened out there. And I've got to say 'wow.' That's what now? Five HKs in just two weeks."
"Six." Kara corrected him, "Five Tanks plus that Aerial HK."
"Oh yeah, the one you smoked when it landed to refuel. I just remembered that."
"Boy, that was certainly fun. Blowing that metal back into sky."
"You're one hell of a fighter, Starbuck."
"So, Starbuck," said Becka, "We were thinking once you get out of here, you could join the rest of the squad in that unused storage compartment. You know, the one in Tunnel C3. Tonight at 2200 hours."
"What's going on?" asked Kara curiously.
"We're having our weekly squad get-together."
"Get-together? You never told me about this last week."
"Well, I'll be honest with you Starbuck..." Becka said uneasily, "We weren't sure if you were going to survive this long. We didn't want to risk getting... let's just say attached to you prematurely."
Kara raised her eyebrows. "I don't think I needed to hear that, Becka." she said dryly.
"We'll make it up to you, Starbuck." Davy told her reassuringly. "Do you like cards and booze?"
Kara's face brightened.
"Hell yeah!"
"We have plenty of it." Becka told her. "We'll also have chips, peanuts, and Furky."
"Furky? What's that?"
Becka was about to explain, when Thornton returned and kicked both Becka and Davy out.
Guess, I'll have to find out tonight, Kara thought.
"You sure you've never played poker before, Starbuck?" asked Sergeant Macintosh - or "Mac" as most people called him when he was off duty.
Kara, who had just kicked Mac and Becka's assess with a Full House, shook her head. "I've played cards," she said, "but I'm pretty sure I haven't play this game."
That was true. She hadn't played poker before. There was no such thing as poker back on Galactica.
"However, I am good at catching on." she added with a grin. She finished draining a can of beer before proceeding to haul in her loot, adding it to her already enormous pile.
Kara had wasted no time establishing herself as the ultimate card player in Bravo Squad. Poker, she discovered to her delight, was very similar to triad, and thus it only took her a couple rounds for her to catch on. After that, it was simply a matter of unleashing her Starbuckian skills on her hapless comrades.
"Is there anything you're not good at, Starbuck?" asked one amazed young man.
"Yeah, Williams. Losing." smirked Kara, as she popped a couple of salted peanuts in her mouth.
"Hey Mac," said Becka, "Where've you been all day anyway?"
"With Lieutenant Green," answered Mac, "We've been discussing things."
"What sort of things?" asked Kara.
"You'll find out pretty soon, Starbuck."
"Looking forward to it."
Kara sat back and sighed. She felt completely at home here for the moment. Playing poker and drinking booze in Bunker Five's storage compartment with her fellow squad members was no different than playing triad and drinking booze in Galactica's rec room with her fellow pilots.
Another man began dealing out the cards again. "So, have you guys heard the rumors?" he asked, "Connor's planning to put a metal in charge of Fort Coyote."
"Oh come on, Cooper." laughed Williams, "Those are just rumors. Mindless speculation. You can't believe everything that allegedly comes from 'the inside.'"
"I know you're just nineteen, Williams, but you should be old enough to see the obvious." retorted Cooper, "I mean, look at it. Connor has already put metals in charge of six of our bases these past two months."
Everyone in the room started muttering to each other. Opinions seemed to be mixed.
"None of those were on the front line," Becka pointed out.
"Yeah, but Coyote is." Cooper stated.
"Look, even if this is true, it may not be that bad," Williams reasoned as he looked at his cards, "I know that sometimes the scrubbed metals go berserk, but our techs have gotten better at reprogramming them."
"It's not a matter of reprogramming, Williams." another man said, "It's a matter of right and wrong."
"Hey, if it helps us win this war-" Davy tried to say, but Cooper cut him off.
"Win this war? Winning this war means freeing ourselves from metals, not putting them in charge!" exclaimed an outraged Cooper, "We might as well go back to the work camps if that's how it's gonna be."
"Oh, don't be an idiot, Cooper." Becka said impatiently as she discarded a couple of cards, "The scrubbed metals work for us. Not the other way around."
"Look Becka," said Cooper, "I'm fine when the metals are used as cannon fodder. I mean that's what they're good for. What I'm not fine with is when they're allowed to make decisions that control the fate of humans."
"Well, I don't know Cooper." Davy intoned, "Some of our own commanders haven't done such a great job lately."
"But at least they have souls." argued another person, "At least they have some sense of the value of human life. You'll never get that with a machine."
Again there was more murmuring around the table.
"Hey, Starbuck, what do you think of all this?" Cooper asked eagerly.
Kara shook her head. "Cooper," she said scornfully, "It's that type of thinking that makes people like you such poor card players."
People in the room chuckled and snickered. Cooper, however, leaned forward looking slightly offended.
"Really?" he said slowly, "Tell me, Starbuck, if you had to choose between putting your life in the hands of a fellow human or putting it in the hands of a machine, what would you choose?"
"It'd depend on which one I felt could do a better job of not getting me killed." Kara replied bluntly, "The question you should be asking is not 'are you a human or a machine?' It's 'are you on my side or on the other side?'"
Cooper scoffed. "Do you really think any of those machines could be on our side, Starbuck?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. In war, anyone or anything is on my side as long as they do two simple things. First, they don't try to kill me. Second, they kill the ones that are actually trying to kill me."
"So what happens if they stop doing those 'simple' things?"
"Then I treat them like the enemy. I kill them before they kill me." Kara answered as if it stating obvious. "Humans. Machines. Makes no difference to me. All I care about is whether they're gonna shoot with me or shoot at me."
Cooper shook his head in disbelief. "Sarge," he said, "Come help me out here. Surely you can't believe any of this humans-and-machines-are-no-different bullshit, do you?"
Mac just shrugged. "Personally, I wouldn't trust a metal any farther than I could throw an HK. But there is someone I would trust to the ends of the Earth. And that's John Connor. I trust his judgment above anyone else."
"Too bad that Connor would rather trust a machine than his own species." Cooper muttered bitterly.
Before anyone could respond to that, Lieutenant Green entered the room. Everyone stood at attention.
"At ease all of you," Green said. "Sergeant Macintosh and I have been discussing the details of a special mission for Bravo Squad. If you'll explain, Mac."
Mac moved to the center of the room and began talking. "Alright, listen up boys and girls. As you know, the machines haven't attacked en masse for two weeks. We've figured it was due to their supply lines being strained. But that may change very soon."
He paused and looked around the room before continuing. "Our latest intel indicates that the metals have constructed a new supply depot in Sector 4 - just outside our backyard. The lieutenant wants it destroyed before the enemy can muster enough strength to mount another full scale offensive. Tonight, I will lead a strike team to Sector 4. We're gonna blow that supply depot off the map. This is a high risk mission, so its volunteers only."
Mac paused once more to gaze around the room.
"Who's with me?" he asked.
Kara and Becka immediately stood up. Davy followed a few moments later. After some hesitation, so did Cooper and Williams. Mac looked them over, nodding at each one with approval - until he got to Kara.
"Starbuck," he said, "I'm afraid you're going to have sit this one out. It's too dangerous for one in your condition."
Kara stared at her patched up shoulder, now wrapped in a new strip of sterile gauze. "Sir," she protested looking up again, "The doctor just cleared me for active duty."
Mac shook his head. "I'm sorry, Starbuck, but this isn't just a routine border patrol or a simple ambush we're planning. Intel reported heavy enemy activity in the area. It's too risky for one who's still recovering for being wounded in action."
"But Mac-"
"I've made up my mind, private. You're staying out of this one."
Lieutenant Green held up his hand. "Just a moment, Mac." he said. He walked up to Kara. "Do you feel up to this, Private Thrace?" he asked.
Kara nodded. "Yes, sir." she said eagerly.
"You're sure your shoulder is working?" he asked.
"It feels great, sir." she answered. That wasn't exactly true. It still itched and ached, but hey, she was a big girl. She wasn't going to let something like a burnt shoulder stop her.
Green nodded and walked back to Mac. "Let's talk outside." he said.
Green and Mac left the room, and Kara could hear them speaking in low voices for several minutes. She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but she had a pretty good idea what it was.
Mac and Green both returned the room. Green looked rather satisfied, while Mac looked somewhat uneasy. "Private Thrace," he said, "Are you really willing to take on this mission. There's no turning back once you've given me your answer."
Without hesitation, Kara nodded. "Yes, sir. I am, sir." she said.
Mac sighed. "Very well. You're in, Starbuck." he said. Kara grinned with triumph.
Mac then turned to the others. "Alright, listen up. Feral, Griffin, Cooper, Williams, Thrace, grab your gear and meet me at Entrance B in one hour. The rest of you, hit the racks. Parker, you're in charge of the rest of the squad until we get back."
"Sir!" they all said in unison.
"I think everything's good to go, sir." Mac told Green.
"Alright then." said Green, "Dismissed!"
He turned and left the room. Mac and the rest of Bravo Squad filed out as well. Kara peered through the crowd looking for Green. She saw him walking down a corridor opposite of the direction everyone else was heading in.
Kara hurried after him. "Lieutenant Green!" she called out.
Green stopped and turned. "Private Thrace?" he said.
Kara ran up to him. "I just wanted to thank you, sir." she said with gratitude, "For letting me be on this mission. It means a lot to me."
Green smiled kindly. "You don't need to thank me, Thrace." he said, "No soldier who willingly volunteers for any mission should be barred from participating."
He looked down briefly and then said, "You know, Thrace, I've greatly underestimated you. Two weeks ago, I thought you were just another poor little girl looking for somewhere to stay. Now, I see you for what you really are."
"What's that?" asked Kara.
"One hell of a fighter." Green replied, "The Resistance could sure use more people like you."
Kara grinned. "Thank you, sir." she said.
Green placed a hand her on the shoulder (the uninjured one). "Good luck out there, Starbuck." he said, "I know I can count on you."
"Yes, sir."
Kara saluted. Green nodded and saluted back. "Get yourself ready, private." he told her. He then turned and walked down the corridor and was soon out of sight. Kara promptly hurried back to catch up with the rest of her squad.
Well, this'll be a nice way to end the day, she thought, Kick a few toaster assess and grab another beer. And maybe another piece of Furky.
Furky as it had turned out was like beef jerky, except that it didn't come from cows. It came from the only common source of meat people could get their hands on in these tunnels.
Kara had found that Furky wasn't half as bad as she had initially been expecting. It was actually quite tasty - all things considered. The only problem was that every now and then, she'd find bits of fur and hair still in the meat.
Skynet Supply Depot in Sector 4, Ruins of Los Angeles
"How many are there?" Davy asked.
Becka was looking through a pair of night vision goggles. "I count at least thirty maybe forty Endos. I also see three supply trucks."
At that moment, Kara, Davy, and Becka were on a ridge looking down at a small Skynet base.
"Looks like they've got a T-600 at each truck." Becka added.
The T-600 series was one of Skynet's earlier infiltrator models built to resemble humans. However, they had been easy to detect on sight due to the fact that their "skin" was made from rubber. These days, the T-600s were often used as non-coms giving orders to the endoskeletons.
"What are they doing?" Kara asked.
"They're offloading crates from the trucks." Becka said, "Probably spare parts and other supplies. I also see some kind of conveyor belt leading to that large building in the middle. Doesn't look like it's running, though."
Just then they heard someone approaching from behind. They spun around with their weapons drawn, but lowered them when they saw it was just Mac and Williams.
"Cooper's got the transport parked behind us. He'll move in if there's any trouble." Mac whispered. "What's the situation here, Feral?"
"Well, sir, I believe those things there, there and there are fuel stores." she pointed to a trio of giant metallic egg-like containers scattered around the base. Each fuel store was suspended about three feet above the ground by six support beams giving the storages the vague appearance of big metal insects.
Kara peered through the scope of her rifle. "I say we just blow the fuel stores, and send the whole place to hell." she whispered.
"Those stores look like they're pretty heavily armored." commented Becka, "Plasma rifle fire ain't gonna do squat."
"We have armor piercing explosives." Williams pointed out.
Becka shook her head. "We only brought one RPG launcher with us. We'd only be able to get one shot off before the machines were on top of us like angry wasps."
"Isn't one shot enough to take out all three fuel stores?"
"No. They're positioned too far apart and have enough shielding to prevent that sort of chain reaction."
"We've got C4 with us." Kara suggested. "If we can get inside the perimeter, we can plant explosives on the tanks themselves."
"How the hell is anyone suppose to get inside the perimeter at all, Starbuck?" asked an incredulous Becka.
"I haven't figured that out yet." Kara admitted, "What do you see, Becka?"
Becka scanned the area with her night vision goggles. "There are no guards at the fuel tanks. Most of the endos are busy carrying supply crates and doing various maintenance work. They probably think the fuel tanks are tough enough not to need guards. But it looks like there are also a lot of metals guarding the perimeter. Getting past them is not going to be easy."
"We have another problem." Davy said looking through his sniper scope, "It looks like they've set up an IED Jamming tower. Remote detonators won't work. We'd have to set the explosives on a countdown timer."
"We need some other plan." Mac stated.
Kara sighed. "There must be some way in there..." she started to say when they heard a loud rumbling sound.
The group looked down and saw a large dumpster roll up to the depot. It drove right past the patrols and towards the center of the place, parking right next to the huge conveyor belt. It unloaded its contents onto the belt which immediately started running.
"What's it dumping?" asked Davy.
"Let me see." muttered Becka, "It looks like a load of... what the-?" She trailed off looking astonished.
"What it is Feral?" Mac asked impatiently.
"They're endos." Becka said. "Or at least what's left of them. They're not moving and they all look pretty busted up to me. I think they're all dead."
"What would they want with a bunch of dead endos?" asked Williams confused.
Kara stared through her sniper scope.
"I see some active endos working at the belt. There's also a rubber job overseeing them." said Kara, "They're going through the bodies, pulling some of them off."
Kara adjusted the scope on her plasma rifle to get a better view. She watched in somewhat morbid fascination as the machines ripped the heads off of their destroyed comrades. They handed the heads to the T-600 which placed them carefully in a large metal container. The remainder of the bodies were casually tossed back on to the conveyor belt, which fed its contents into the large building at the center of the whole complex. Smoke was belching from the stacks of the building now.
"They're separating the heads from the bodies." Kara said. "The T-600 is storing them inside a box. Everything else is getting tossed back onto the belt."
"I'll bet that thing in the center is where everything gets scrapped." said Becka, "They salvage whatever parts they can from the bodies and melt the rest down."
"So, it's not just a supply depot. It's also a recycling facility." commented Davy.
"Looks like it." Becka nodded.
"Why keep the heads separate?" Kara asked.
"They don't want to risk damaging the chip." Becka stated, "The heads are probably taken to have their chips properly extracted. The chips still intact can be placed in new endoskeletons and brought back online. Resurrection if you will."
That sounds vaguely familiar, thought Kara darkly. She watched as the truck, having finished its job, drove away from the depot and out of sight. She then looked over her shoulder and saw a second dump truck approaching the scene below.
"Hey, I have a plan." she said, "It's crazy but it'll work."
"We're listening, Starbuck." Mac said with anticipation.
The second dump truck also containing a load of damaged, powered down endoskeletons entered the complex. The T-600 driver drove up to the conveyor belt, and aligned itself with the belt. The driver pulled a lever and dumped its shipment of dead mechanical corpses onto the conveyor belt. The truck then drove away. If the driver, or any of the other Terminators had been paying attention, they would have seen five living, non-metal bodies jump out of the back of the truck just before it dumped its cargo.
Kara and the others crouched behind a stack of unguarded supply crates.
"Everyone okay?" Mac asked.
"Still trying to get the smell of those metals out of me," muttered Becka, "But other than that I'm fine."
"Same here." said Kara. Davy gave a thumbs up.
"Boy, we're lucky they didn't even bother to run a simple scan on the truck." said Williams.
"Yeah, well, none of them were expecting us to do something as crazy as this." Davy quipped, grinning at Kara.
Kara allowed herself to smirk. She then turned to Mac. "I can see the fuel tanks, sir. They're less than fifty feet away."
"Alright listen up." Mac said quietly, "Griffin, you take the fuel tank on the left. Williams, you take the one on the right. Feral, go for the center. Thrace and I will stay back here and cover you."
Kara decided not to argue for once.
"Get your assess back once that's done." Mac continued, "We'll commandeer one of those supply trucks and drive out of here. All three bombs need to go off at the same time, so set your C4 blocks for twenty-two minutes." Mac ordered. "Starting now."
Becka, Davy, and Williams all looked highly uneasy about carrying ticking bombs on them, but they did as they were told.
"Get a move on it." ordered Mac.
Kara watched as the three soldiers dashed off towards their designated targets. She wished it could have been her out there instead of any one of them. She didn't want anything to happen to either Becka or Davy (or Williams for that matter, even though she didn't know him as well).
Kara's heart momentarily froze when she saw a pair of endos approach Becka. Fortunately, Becka saw them in time and dove behind a large obelisk. The endos never saw her and marched right past her hiding spot. Kara sighed with relief as Becka got up and made her way to the fuel store.
Looking for Davy, Kara spotted him planting the explosives on the left fuel store. She held her breath as a T-600 walked by the tank, forcing Davy to press himself flat against the side of fuel store. The machine looked around a bit but saw nothing. It moved on. Davy went back to work. Kara allowed herself to breath.
She then turned to check on Williams. He had already completed his job and was heading back now.
Becka suddenly popped up behind them. "Center tank is rigged to blow." she whispered. Boy, she was good.
"Good work, corporal." said Mac, "Williams has the right tank ready to blow. The only one left is Griffin." He checked his watch. "Seventeen minutes left."
It's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be good, Kara thought to herself.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the unmistakable sound of a plasma weapon going off. They all turned to see Williams, a smoldering hole in his back, drop to his knees, a shocked and pained look on his face. He then fell forward and did not get up.
Kara lowered herself back behind the crates and leaned against them. She dropped her head in sorrow. Damn... Skynet had claimed yet another victim. Kara whispered a silent prayer for her fallen comrade.
An equally distraught Becka opened her mouth in horror, but Mac grabbed her and covered her mouth
"Quiet!" he hissed pointing over the crates at something.
Kara looked up again and saw what he was pointing at. An endo, its plasma rifle still smoking, stepped out of the shadows and stood over Williams' corpse. A T-600 and two endos marched over as well. She watched as the T-600 knelt down and turned Williams on his back. The rubber-skinned Terminator looked the body over for a few seconds before standing back up. It gazed around, no doubt trying to determine where this intruder had come from and if there had been any others with him.
Kara ducked back behind the crates and held her breath. Logic would tell the machines that Williams had not been acting alone, nor had he just been on a midnight stroll. The Terminators were less than thirty feet away. They could easily discover her and the others right now. Or they could investigate the fuel tanks and discover the C4 planted there. Either way, it didn't look good.
Her shoulder was beginning to ache now.
The T-600 spoke briefly to the three endos. One of them picked up Williams' body and started dragging it away. The rubber job took Williams' plasma rifle and handed it to another endo which marched off as well. The T-600 and the remaining endo then walked away almost like nothing had happened.
Kara just stared in both relief and disbelief. The machines were moving on just like that. Either the toasters here were a few software upgrades behind, or they had somehow believed that Williams was just a lone scout.
She looked down and checked her watch. Fifteen minutes left. Almost half their time had been spent.
Kara looked back at Davy's position. He had finished his job, but the recent events had forced him to stay behind the fuel tank. He was watching the machines disperse. Just as the coast looked clear, something huge flew overhead.
Kara stared up and gaped in dismay. An Aerial HK.
The flying machine circled once before starting to descend - right on top of Davy who was forced to throw himself to the ground and hide underneath the egg-like container. Kara's insides froze. The machine had seen him!
Or had it?
The HK hadn't turned it strobe light on. Instead it positioned itself ten feet above the fuel tank and lowered a metal tube from its underside into the container. Kara quickly figured out that it hadn't seen Davy. It wasn't even here to search for more intruders. It was just stopping to gas up.
Davy wasn't out of danger yet though. He knew the HK was simply here to refuel and was completely oblivious to his presence. However, any sudden movement could likely set off the machine's proximity sensors. It wouldn't be able to shoot at him since that risked igniting the fuel store. However, it would certainly alert the ground troops.
On the other hand, if he had to stay like this for longer than thirteen... make that twelve more minutes, he was going to die anyway.
Kara watched with bated breath as the HK simply hovered continuing to drink through its metal straw. Time was ticking away. It was taking too long.
"Come on you stupid bastard!" she growled mentally, "Stop guzzling and get the frak out of here already! It's for your own good! Although I'd much rather see you blown to pieces."
Mac decided to break radio silence at the risk of being detected.
"Private Griffin, what's your status?" he asked into radio headset. There was no answer. Just static. Mac shook his head. "That's it. "We're pulling out, folks. Let's grab that supply truck over there and get out of here."
Becka and Kara stared at Mac in horror.
"What about Davy? We can't just leave him?" Kara hissed.
"We don't have a choice. If we don't get out of here in the next ten minutes, none of us will get out at all." Mac replied sternly.
"But, sir-"
"Griffin knew the risks when he volunteered for this job. As did you," Mac reminded her.
Kara sighed. Mac was right. And Davy had already told them to leave him to his fate. But they had already lost Williams. She didn't want to lose Davy.
But they still needed to secure a transport first.
"Starbuck, you take point." Mac ordered.
"Got it, sir." said Kara.
Kara took the lead with Mac and Becka close behind her. They stealthily made their way towards the supply trucks. Only a single endo was standing guard with its back turned to them. Mac gestured for them to attack on his command. He counted to three and then gave the signal.
The machine didn't stand a chance as Kara, Mac and Becka all fired simultaneously, pouring an overwhelming barrage of plasma bolts into its back. The endo collapsed to the ground in a heap of burning metal.
"That's for Williams!" Becka snarled viciously.
"No way they couldn't have heard that. Let's get out of here." said Mac. "Feral, Starbuck, get in the back both of you. We're gonna have some pissed off metals on our tail soon."
Kara looked back. The HK was still refueling, pinning Davy to the ground. She checked the time. Eight minutes left. And now there was a growing mob of Terminators heading their way. She knew what she had to do. She hopped in the back with Becka.
"I can't believe we're just leaving Davy behind." sighed Becka.
"We're not leaving him behind." Kara said, "At least I'm not."
"What the hell are you talking about, Starbuck?" demanded Becka, although the look on her face indicated she had a pretty good idea what Kara might be talking about.
The engine began rumbling.
"I'm gonna stay and save Davy." Kara explained with a devious smile, "We'll grab another truck and get out of here before the whole place goes up."
"No!" shouted Becka, "You'll get yourself killed!"
"No, I won't. I made a promise to see the end of this war."
"This is not the time to be an idiot, Starbuck! You've got less than seven minutes!"
"I'll make it. All of us will make it."
"Starbuck, you can't-"
The truck started moving.
"See ya' on the other side, Becka!"
Kara sprang out of the truck just as it sped off. She watched the vehicle barrel towards the exit, knocking over several machines in its path. Dozens of endos pursued firing their weapons as they did. Kara saw plasma blasts shoot out from the back of the truck taking a couple endos out.
She grinned. Becka would have made a good Viper pilot on Galactica.
The Aerial HK finally pulled itself away from the fuel storage and started chasing after the stolen supply truck, which was now clearing the blast zone. Kara seized the opportunity and ran over to Davy. To her relief, he was still alive.
"Come on, Davy!" she yelled dragging her friend to his feet, "Let's get out of here!"
"Where's the sarge and Becka?" asked Davy looking around.
"They've already gotten away." she replied. Well, she hoped they had anyway.
She checked the time. Five minutes left. There was no room to frak up now.
"Let's take that supply truck over there and go!"
"Right behind you, Starbuck!"
Together, they ran towards the vehicle and salvation. But before they had made it half way there, a barrage of plasma fire forced them to take cover behind the conveyor belt. Kara saw two T-600s and at least seven endos barring their way. She and Davy returned fire, destroying two endos and blowing the arm off another one. However, three more endos appeared and joined their comrades' assault on the humans.
"There are too many of them!" shouted Davy as he reduced another endo to scrap. He ducked to avoid an incoming stream of plasma fire.
Kara, who had just finished blasting the head off one of the T-600s, looked around her. Five more endos were approaching from behind. She checked the power level on her plasma rifle. It was in the red zone. She checked the time. Two minutes left. Also her shoulder was acting up again.
Frak, frak, frak and frak!
"Alright, let's go to Plan B!" she said as she ejected the empty power cell from her weapon. She loaded the only spare she had into the rifle and started firing again. "Let's see, uh... Plan B... Plan B... ehhh..." She looked all around her.
"What is Plan B, Starbuck!" yelled Davy.
"I don't know yet!" screamed Kara. She and Davy threw themselves on the ground to avoid getting blasted by an endo that stood less than ten feet away. Without bothering to get up, she aimed and fired taking the toaster's head off. She checked the time. One minute left.
They would never make it.
Suddenly, another crazy Starbuck-patented idea hit her.
"Get on the conveyor belt!" she ordered Davy, "Get inside that thing!"
"What?" exclaimed Davy, "Are you crazy, Starbuck? God only knows what's in there!"
"Well everyone knows that if we don't get in there, we're both gonna die!" screamed Kara, "So shut up and get in the frakkin' thing!"
"Wait, Starbuck-"
"MOVE IT, SOLDIER!"
Davy wisely decided not to argue any further and leapt on the conveyor belt. He was quickly swallowed up. Kara meanwhile destroyed two more endos as the circle of angry machines grew tighter. Ten seconds left. She hurled herself onto the conveyor belt.
Kara blasted one more endo to pieces before she was taken into the mouth of the tunnel. She found herself falling through darkness. She couldn't see anything.
But she could certainly hear the tremendous roar of all three fuel tanks outside getting blown sky high. Whatever place she was in was rocked violently. Kara went flying into something hard and landed on her back. Things started falling on top of her. She covered her head protectively. There was more terrible shaking and she was sent skidding across the floor. More things fell on her. She curled herself into a ball in a final desperate attempt to shield herself from further harm.
Then the darkness proceeded to devour her mind.
Connor Safehouse 2009
After thirty minutes of non-stop sparring, both Kara Thrace and Sarah Connor were drenched in sweat and grime. Only now were they starting to realize that they had both underestimated the other.
Kara had proven herself to be somewhat more agile than Sarah. However, Sarah had a slight advantage over her younger opponent in terms of physical power. Both had landed blows on each other, and both had endured significant punishment. And yet, neither woman had gained the upper hand or were close to quitting.
A determined Kara lunged forth with a quick jab at Sarah's face. Sarah blocked the attack with one hand and countered with the other. Kara blocked and then withdrew into a cat stance just out of Sarah's range. Sarah began circling her opponent looking for an opportunity to strike.
Sarah suddenly struck forth like a cobra thrusting her fist at Kara's head. With incredible speed, Kara sidestepped the attack and launched a blow at Sarah's exposed midsection. Sarah managed to block her punch just in time but her frontal defenses were weakened in the process.
Sensing that her opponent was off balance, Kara unleashed a relentless combo of hooks, jabs, and punches. Although Sarah was forced backwards, she still successfully blocked or dodged all of Kara's attacks. Eventually Kara's momentum had been depleted, forcing her to break off the attack. Without hesitation, Sarah launched her counterassault.
First she feinted an attack to the face with a false right punch. Kara fell for this and moved her hands to deflect the anticipated blow. Instead, however, Sarah moved forward forty-five degrees to the right and thrust her left fist at Kara's now vulnerable stomach.
Once again, Kara's lightning fast reflexes allowed her to avoid the attack and reposition herself back into a guarded stance. The two women began circling each, just waiting for the other to make a move. They kept circling for ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty...
Then they struck simultaneously. Kara launched a powerful hooking punch, while Sarah unleashed a devastating uppercut. Both blows connected with their desired targets. Kara slammed her fist hard into Sarah's left cheek, while Sarah made firm contact with Kara's chin. Both women were knocked backwards by the power of their attacks. They lost balance and fell flat on their backs.
They didn't move for half a minute. Exhaustion and fatigue had finally caught up with them at that point.
Slowly, both women sat up. However, neither got to their feet. Instead they just sat there breathing hard and rubbing their various injuries. Neither Sarah nor Kara seemed to be ready to continue the fight. They were finally starting to feel the effects of exertion they had just placed on themselves for the last half hour.
Sarah wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Nice shot." she said with genuine admiration.
Kara grinned despite being short of breath. "You too." she said.
"Wanna call it a draw?" Sarah asked hopefully. Her head was spinning and she now had aches and pains all over her body.
Kara, whose lungs felt like they might burst any moment, nodded. "Okay." she said.
Sarah said nothing. She continued sitting there smiling weakly at Kara, who maintained her rather silly grin.
Kara suddenly felt her shoulder acting up again. She clutched it trying to suppress the feeling. Sarah noticed her scar.
"How'd you get that?" she asked.
"Plasma burn from an HK." Kara said quickly, "Got it three years ago... Relatively speaking anyway."
She then noticed an equally nasty scar on Sarah's right leg. "What's the story with that?" she asked pointing to the leg.
"Bullet wound." Sarah grimaced, "About a month ago."
"Boy, the stories we could tell..." Kara sighed.
Just then John burst into the room looking frantic.
"Alright, you two! Just stop everything and-" he cut himself off when he suddenly realized they had stopped everything.
"You were saying, John?" Sarah asked smirking at John's relieved yet dumbfounded look.
"Errrr... Cameron told me you were... fighting" he said hesitantly.
Kara showed him her boxing gloves. "You could say that." she snickered, "Your mom packs one hell of a punch."
John looked quite embarrassed now. "Yeah..." he said trying to avoid eye contact. "She certainly does."
"Well, I'm sorry to say this John," Sarah said, still smirking, "but it looks like you missed all the action. Too bad. You would have liked it."
"That's okay, I'm not much of a boxing fan..." he said now thoroughly feeling like an idiot. He decided to change subjects, "Hey, uh, look. Cameron and I managed to make some headway on that weapon Starbuck found."
He told them what he and Cameron had discovered about the weapon. He told them about the experimental APECM magazine. He also told them about Ronald Stukov and his possible connection to Kaliba.
"So, you think this Stukov can tell us more about why his employers wanted one of these things?" Kara asked.
"That's what we're hoping for. Assuming we can find him." John replied.
"What makes you think he'll want to tell us anything?"
"That's his choice. Although I'm sure he can be persuaded to talk, if you know what I mean." Sarah said.
Kara nodded and beamed. "Ah, I see." she said.
Sarah then turned to John frowning. "I still don't understand why Skynet would think it was necessary to engage in electronic warfare to kill us. I mean, what do we have - or what does Skynet think we have - that can't be hurt by brute force? "
"We have Cam." Kara pointed out.
"I thought about that." John said, "But as tough as Cameron is, I don't think Skynet would order the construction of this weapon just for her. It could simply arm the Triple Eights with explosives and normal armor-piercing weapons."
Sarah couldn't think of an explanation herself. She then remembered Kyle's words from last night.
Events are in motion, Sarah... The fate of this world will be decided soon
She turned to Kara. "Starbuck, you said something before about Skynet thinking we were close to stopping it, right?"
Kara nodded. "The Triple-Eights were given a two-week time limit to stop us." she stated.
"Maybe this gun will tell us exactly what Skynet doesn't want us to do in the next two weeks." Sarah suggested hopefully.
"Consider the irony of that." Kara laughed, "Skynet tries to stop us from doing something but ends up teaching us what do to."
"It wouldn't be the first time that's happened," Sarah acknowledged, "When Skynet sent the first Terminator back to kill me, it ended up doing two things. It created its own existence, but it also gave the knowledge I needed to teach John."
"I think the term for that is 'predestination paradox.'" John stated.
Or 'destiny.' Kara thought.
"But what if we weren't the real target?" John said suddenly, "What if there's something else out there? Some other threat to Skynet that we don't know about. Something that's made more progress towards destroying Skynet than we have."
"What could possibly be out there that's a bigger threat to Skynet than you?" Kara asked.
No one answered that for a while.
"I have no idea, Starbuck." John said at last, "But one thing is clear. We need to get to Stukov. Before Skynet gets to him."
Sarah nodded. She then got to her feet. "I'll talk to Derek about tracking Stukov down." she said.
"Right. Just make sure he's knows that we need the man alive." John turned and began to leave when Sarah called out to him.
"Oh and John." she said, "Good work. I knew I could count on you... You and Cameron."
John turned around and nodded. "Thanks, Mom." he said, "I'll go tell Cameron you said that. I'm sure she'll... appreciate it." He then left the underground shelter.
Sarah turned to Kara who was still sitting on the ground.
"I'll go talk to Derek," she said, "You can get yourself cleaned up in the meantime."
"Can I borrow your clothes again?" Kara asked cheekily.
Sarah sighed loudly. "Fine," she said with reluctance, "But only this once. You're getting your own clothes starting today."
"Alright then." Kara agreed. "Just give me some cash and point me in the direction of the nearest clothing store."
"Deal."
Kara got to her feet and removed her boxing gloves. When she turned around she noticed Sarah was standing there holding out her hand.
"Good fight, by the way." Sarah congratulated her. "You're a hell of a fighter, Starbuck."
A lot of people tell me that. Kara thought to herself.
"Yeah, you too." she said as she took Sarah's hand and shook it. "Definitely not something one would expect from a single, unemployed mother."
Sarah, however, didn't entirely hear Kara's remark. At that moment she was staring at something on Kara's right forearm. It looked familiar. At first she thought it was some kind of tattoo, like the one she had on her left shoulder - the large green wing. Sarah looked closer and realized why it looked familiar.
It was a laser-scanned Skynet work camp barcode. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to have been.
Sarah had seen these barcodes before. On both Derek and Kyle for example. Starbuck's was very different however. First of all, there were no visible numbers. Secondly, the barcode itself was only half as long as the other ones she had seen. The third and most noticeable thing was that the usual series of long, straight vertical lines was overlapped by a crisscross of jagged, horizontal dash marks.
Sarah suddenly realized why Kara's barcode was so short. Midway through the procedure, the laser scanner had rotated ninety degrees and moved backwards, burning the second half of the barcode on top of the first half. The scanner had also done a pretty sloppy job when it did the second half. Not that it would have mattered, since it had already ruined the barcode by moving backwards in the first place.
"What happened there?" Sarah wondered.
The machine that had branded Starbuck must have done a botched job. Sarah looked for a proper barcode on Kara's left arm, but saw nothing. That was odd. Wouldn't the machines have wanted to try again if they screwed up the first time?
Kara notice what Sarah was looking at and she pulled her arm away.
"What happened?" Sarah asked, "I've seen those things before, but not one like that."
"It's something I don't want to talk about." Kara replied tersely. She seemed highly agitated and was now hiding the disfigured barcode from Sarah's view.
"Did they screw up when they did that to you?" Sarah pressed.
"I don't want to talk about it." Kara repeated defensively.
"It's okay, Starbuck. It's nothing to be ashamed-."
"I said I don't want to talk about it!"
Sarah was startled by the anger in Kara's voice. She stepped back a little. Kara noticed her reaction and sighed.
"I'm sorry," she said, her anger vanishing quickly, "But really... it's not something I want to talk about... At least not now."
Sarah nodded. "Don't worry. I understand." she said reassuringly. Sarah then walked out of the room and left Kara alone.
Kara sighed and stared at the hideous mark burned into her forearm. She was often able ignore it. For some reason she couldn't do so today.
Somewhere in the ruins of Los Angeles, 2024
"Ugh..." groaned Kara.
She had a horrible headache. Her body was in pain all over. Well, at least the fact that she felt something meant she was alive. Slowly, Kara opened her eyes. It was still dark, but there was enough lighting to see where she was. Unfortunately, what she saw made her wish she couldn't see.
Kara Thrace had been in Galactica's brig enough times to recognize a prison cell either on sight or smell.
This definitely looked and smelled like one.
The cell she was in didn't have bars, but it was cold, cramped, dirty and dismal. Not that she had been expecting anything else, though.
Kara looked down and saw that she had been stripped of her armored vest and other equipment. No surprise there either. Machines weren't that stupid.
"Oh God, my head..." moaned a familiar voice.
Realizing she wasn't alone, Kara turned and saw a bruised and battered Davy roll over on his back. She rushed to his side and knelt down over him.
"Hey, Davy." she said gently, "Wake up. Wake up, please."
"Starbuck..." murmured Davy.
Kara nodded. "I'm here, Davy."
"Where are we?"
"In a lovely four star Skynet prison cell."
Davy sighed. "Oh crap..."
Kara saw a cot attached to the wall opposite of them. She helped Davy to his feet and walked him over to the cot. She helped him lie down. Slowly, Davy began to regain his senses.
"What happened, Starbuck?" Davy asked wincing in pain.
"Well, it worked." Kara said with a degree of satisfaction, "All three tanks blew up. I didn't actually see how much damage there was, but I'm sure it was spectacular."
Davy managed to sit up.
"Where's Mac, Becka, and Cooper?" he asked anxiously, "Did the metals get them too?"
"I don't know." replied Kara, "I hope not."
"How long have we been here?"
"No idea. I was knocked out when the bombs went off. I just woke up now."
"They must have found us buried in the rubble."
Kara sat down next to Davy. "What do you think they're gonna do to us?" she asked. She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer.
"Well..." muttered Davy, "They'll definitely interrogate us first. After that they'll probably send us to a labor camp... Or they might just kill us depending on how pissed they are. We did just blow up one of their bases after all."
"What are the labor camps like?" Kara asked nervously.
"Not nice." Davy said dryly, "Not nice at all." Davy pulled up his right sleeve and showed Kara something that made her gasp in horror.
"Is... is that a barcode?" she stuttered.
Davy nodded solemnly. "I got it ten years ago. Just three years after Judgment Day. Before Connor taught me to fight back."
Kara stared at the mark in his arm. "How did they do that?"
"They took a laser scanner and burned it into my arm. It hurt like hell. They did it to everyone."
"Why?"
"Supposedly to keep track of us. But I think it was just to humiliate us. To show us that we were nothing but cattle... Helpless animals to be butchered."
"Is... is that what they're gonna do to me?" Kara asked weakly, now feeling sick. She hadn't been this terrified since her imprisonment in that Cylon Farm on Caprica.
Davy nodded slowly. "They probably will."
He then looked Kara in the eyes. "But they won't break you, Starbuck." he said with fierce encouragement. "They're just machines. They won't understand anything about a human like you. I know they won't break you. They can't break you!"
Kara nodded. Davy's words had extinguished her fears.
"Okay." was all she said. She leaned against Davy, who responded by putting his arm around her and holding her tightly.
"You're one hell of a fighter, Starbuck." he said with pure adoration.
Kara just nodded again.
A few minutes later, the cell door slid open, and a T-600 entered accompanied by an endo. The T-600 walked over and grabbed Kara by the arm yanking her to her feet.
"Hey!" snapped Davy, "Leave her alone! Take me instead!"
The machines ignored him and forced Kara towards the exit. Davy jumped to his feet, fury in his eyes.
"I said leave her alone, you metal bastards!" he bellowed. He charged at the T-600.
The endo stepped in front of him and slammed the butt of its plasma rifle into his stomach. Davy doubled over in pain and fell to the floor. However, he jumped back to his feet as quickly as he had fallen and was ready to renew the fight. The endo aimed its weapon at Davy, but he was too angry to care. He prepared to make his next move - which probably would have been his last had Kara not intervened.
"Davy, no! They'll just kill you!" shouted Kara as she was dragged away, "It's okay. I'll be fine. They won't break me, remember?"
Davy, realizing she was right, slumped his shoulders in defeat and backed away. Kara managed to wink at him just before the door was slammed shut cutting them off from each other. She was now alone with nothing but a pair of hostile machines.
The T-600 marched Kara down a series of dark and cold corridors which were mostly made of bricks, steel and concrete. Her escorts said nothing to her. She said nothing to them. She just stared straight ahead, showing no fear or apprehension. This wasn't the first time she had been taken prisoner, after all.
"Don't worry, Starbuck." she told to herself, "There's nothing they can do to you that hasn't already happened to you before.
Eventually, she was brought inside a small, gloomy room with nothing but a wooden table and a couple of chairs. Another Terminator was standing there behind the table, its back to her. At first she thought it was another T-600, but when it turned around to face her, she realized that the skin wasn't made of rubber.
The skin looked real. It was real. This must have been one of those Triple-Eights she had heard about. Real living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.
The T-600 forced Kara into one of the chairs. The Triple-Eight nodded and the T-600 left. The endo stayed behind in a corner of the room, its plasma rifle ready to put down any trouble.
The Triple-Eight stared down at Kara coldly, its expression emotionless. Refusing to be intimidated, Kara glared at it with hatred and loathing.
Finally the Triple-Eight spoke.
"What is your name?" it asked in a monotonic voice.
Kara said nothing. She just continued to glower at the skin job.
"What is your name?" the Triple-Eight repeated.
"Frak off." spat Kara.
"If you do not tell us your name, we'll give you one."
"Go to Hell!"
The Triple-Eight looked up and made a gesture with its head. The endo came up from behind, grabbed Kara's right arm and forced it onto the table, palm facing upwards. Kara grunted as she tried in vain to free herself. The Triple-Eight produced a sinister-looking tool. Kara trembled in fear as it placed the instrument a few inches above the exposed skin of her forearm. It pressed a button on the device which hummed and issued a beam of red light across Kara's arm.
Kara suddenly felt a wave of agony wash over her body. The pain was unlike anything she had experienced before! It felt like every cell in her body was on fire. She couldn't stop herself from screaming. First in shock, then in pain, then in rage and fury. Something inside of her exploded, and suddenly the pain ceased and was replaced with an indescribable feeling of raw emotion.
With almost inhuman strength, she broke free of the endo's grip and simultaneously knocked the instrument out of the Triple-Eight's hand. The sheer force of this act sent her tumbling out of her chair and onto the hard concrete floor.
A dazed Kara just sat there on her bottom in total shock. What the hell just happened? How the frak did she do that? Before she had time to think clearly, the endo grabbed her by the neck and dropped her back in the chair.
The Triple-Eight was busy inspecting the laser scanner, which must have been broken because the machine casually tossed it away. The Terminator then grabbed Kara's right arm, which now stung a bit, and examined it. Kara also looked at the messy results and allowed herself a little smile. She had resisted successfully. It was likely to be a hollow victory. But it was still a victory nonetheless.
Kara gave the Triple-Eight the best sneer she could muster. The machine wasn't paying attention though. It seemed to be focused on the details of its failed attempt to brand Kara. Finally, it let go of her arm and sat down in its own chair.
"Impressive," the Triple-Eight complimented, "We were right."
Kara was taken back by this remark. "Right about what?" she asked.
"About you, Kara Thrace." the skin job responded calmly.
"You... you already know my name?"
"Of course. We've been watching you for some time now. We've been waiting for you." The Triple-Eight paused briefly before speaking again, "We will talk now."
"I won't tell you anything!" Kara snarled defiantly.
"We don't want information about the Resistance. We want information about you. About your past."
"Why the frak do you care about my life?"
"You're special," the machine said.
I'm 'special'? Oh great... First Leoben, now this bastard, she thought.
"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Kara.
"You are, as your species would say... 'one hell of a fighter.'" the Triple-Eight replied gesturing to the ruined barcode on Kara's arm.
Kara had no response. Her mind was spinning with loss as to what was going on.
The machine continued speaking. "You embody the unexplainable strength of the human race." the Triple-Eight said. It leaned forward across the table. "We wish to incorporate that strength into ourselves."
The machine then returned to its normal sitting position.
"And you, Kara Thrace, will help us to do that." it finished. Had the Triple-Eight been human, it probably would have had a smug, complacent expression on its face (of course, had it been human, Kara would have probably beaten that expression off its face by now).
Kara just rolled her eyes.
"Why do the delusional machines always come to me?" she wondered.
A/N: I don't think I should have to explain what Furky is made of.