Ch.11

John and Kate Connor were walking from the briefing room to their quarters, having just concluded the meeting and knowing full and well the dangerous task before them the following day. Kate seemed bothered, as if some question loomed in the recesses of her mind. John picked up on this, and asked "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Yes," said Kate, "you withheld information from them. We both know that the mission will fail. The terminator will go back in time and Reese will have to chase it. Why didn`t you tell them?"

Connor stopped, trying to put it into words. "It`s because…" he said, "of something Kyle told my mother in the past. He told her… that he had volunteered for the job. He has to get that opportunity, I can`t assign him to it. Every detail of my past must remain the same, or we create an alternate timeline and our existences are re-written. Remember your own words- 'the paradox must be maintained'. You have no idea how correct you were."

This answer seemed to satisfy her questions, and they continued the walk to their quarters.

The next morning, everyone prepared for the mission. They were all awake on time, (except for Kyle, who awoke especially early, despite having gotten little sleep the night before) and arrived at the exit bay completely punctually (except, of course, for Kyle who managed to get there uncharacteristically and almost inhumanly early). The rest of the team was amazed at his determination, and although they were unsure why this particular mission was so important for him, he and John clearly understood it, which was enough to reassure them all. Kyle had been down a roller coaster ride these past two days, not only did he lose the photograph, effectively losing his great love, he had also learned her identity. She had been Sarah Connor, a woman who was an absolute legend in his time. This had been a huge emotional blow to him, since not only was she dead (and had been for years) but she was also the mother of John Connor, a man he respected more than anyone else in the world. He had almost been angry at John, for he was told she would be his greatest mission some day, yet he would clearly never meet her. But now it was all so clear to him. He would save his love, even if she would never know of him or his struggles. This would, however have a damper on his and John`s relationship. John had given him the photo eleven years ago, therefore he must have been anticipating skynet`s moves for some time. He had obviously never intended for Reese to fall in love with his mother, but Reese had, nevertheless. Kyle could not, and would not, ever tell him. Little did he know that it had all been going exactly as Connor had expected. The away team (John, Kyle, Perry, and Marcus) loaded onto a helicopter, which Connor would pilot. Meanwhile, Star and Eagle Squadron left first. The ride was quiet, as Perry tried to make conversation, but it fell short because Kyle and Marcus were both lost in thought, and Connor was focused on his pilot duties. Kate had stayed behind in the command center, overseeing the operation in Connor`s stead. As they began to approach skynet central, which had been rebuilt after 2018, stronger than ever, Eagle Squad prepared for their air-raid on the forward bunkers. Connor and the others were on the ground by this time, approaching the forward defense grid. They were just waiting for the word from Kate.

Suddenly, Dr. Stranz burst into the command center, bleeding heavily from a wound in his chest.

"What`s going on?" asked Kate.

"It`s him!" exclaimed the doctor, "That young lieutenant that Connor busted for the attempted AWOL. He`s escaped his bondage and is now ransacking my lab!"

With that, Dr. Stranz collapsed to the floor. Kate looked at the men in the room, saying "Get a medic! Now!" she then ran to the laboratory, where she found the young lieutenant hacking the computer.

"What are you doing?" she asked, drawing her gun.

He looked at her, smiling as he said, "I`ve given skynet control of their satellite back. I`ve also sent it a copy of Connor`s plan, as my grand revenge."

"Are you insane?" she asked, "If skynet succeeds John will never be born! You`ll doom the whole world for your revenge!"

"We don`t need him!" yelled the soldier, "Y`see, as you know before 2018 Connor was not in control of the resistance, rather a group of former military generals. But he was not their only pet. They were quite fond of me, and if it weren`t for Connor seizing power, I would have claimed leadership of the resistance after their deaths. But now it will have happened! You know how quickly skynet operates; it's probably already calculated a counter-offensive. Connor will fail! Sarah Connor will die, history will be re-written, and I shall be humanity`s glorious leader in an alternate timeline which I created!"

He would say no more. Kate`s blast shot through his head in the blink of an eye, and his body fell to the ground beside his brain matter which was reduced to a pulp. When a group of soldiers came to see what was happening, her only words to them were "Clean up this mess." Kate hurried back to the command center, determined that the madman`s plans would not succeed. Meanwhile, Star was about to start the air raid when she saw something on the horizon. A large number of air HK`s, coming at them full speed. "Oh shit." she said. At that moment John got a call from Kate.

"Get going! And hurry, skynet knows you`re coming!"

John looked back at his now terrified soldiers, saying "Well it looks like our jobs just got harder."