Centuries Chpt 2

Dr. Elias Pitcairn gazed at the contents of the case, his drink completely forgotten and warming on the table where he left it. There were rows upon rows of neatly organized data drives. He gently ran his hand over the tops of the drives completely awed at the gift he'd been given. Not only was Elias a temporal scientist he was a historian at heart. The value of the treasure before him was priceless. He picked up a couple of the drives and noticed that they had been labeled with the author's name and dates recorded. He quickly located the earliest date for Jon's journals and connected the drive to his computer. After a few moments the contents of the drive appeared on his screen. There were dozens of journal entries on that drive alone.

He selected the first entry. He expected a written entry to appear on his screen. To his surprise and delight the file was in audio format.

(Jon's Voice)

Jonathan Power, personal log October 15, 2148.

It's a been a few months since my last entry. I just couldn't bring myself to continue to record my own personal hell. Until we lost Jennifer for those seven months I never understood the anguish my father felt upon losing my mother. Or what Matt felt when he lost not only Joanna, but his kids as well. It was paralyzing at times. It's a level of pain I don't quite know how to describe. It's like being crushed and ripped apart at the same time. It is something I never want to experience again. Dr. Pitcairn, I owe you my life.

I'm sure you're surprised to hear me address you. We, the team and I, decided it would be a good idea to be more diligent in recording our own history in our words. We've always kept personal and team logs. After meeting you we began to wonder just what the people in your time knew about us and how much of that was accurate? I wonder how you'll feel when you hear a long dead voice and one you only met for a couple of minutes sharing their thoughts and feelings about that fateful encounter. I imagine it must be kind of surreal.

I am not kidding, though. I owe you my life. The rage I felt after losing Jennifer took most of the Resistance leaders by surprise. I had not disclosed my feelings previously and so no one was aware that I was in love with her. I learned shortly before Jennifer returned that the other Resistance teams were making contingency plans for when I eventually got myself killed. The sad thing is I didn't care. All I wanted was for the pain to stop. It did for a brief moment with each victory only to reemerge when that moment was over.

I wonder if you have a family, Dr. Pitcairn? I hope so. I don't have much in the way of blood relatives, but I've been blessed to call my team family and now that Jennifer is back I have hope that we will have a family of our own someday. I couldn't say that just four months ago. I had no hope for a happy future with a family. I spent the seven months she was gone living with anger and regret. I was angry with Dread for taking her from me, but I was angry at myself too. I'd let my fear stand in the way and she…-clearing throat-...ugh she died not knowing how I really felt about her. Now that I have her back not a day goes by that I don't show her how I feel. I hope you have that kind of relationship in your life. Matt had that with his first wife, but I'm sure you probably know about his family. Family...that really is what we are fighting for. We're not fighting this war for glory or to be remembered as heroes. We're fighting for our very existence. To grow, to live and love, to have a family...to leave our mark on this world and leave it just a little bit better than we found it.

The Resistance is starting to coalesce into a more organized force. We're beginning to coordinate attacks. It's slow going but we're making progress. We've got a long way to go, but we know what we have to do. We will not fail.

My goal, Dr. Pitcairn, is that someday you will receive my journals as well as those of my team. In a way I wish I could talk to you again to see how my descendants and our world has fared but I realize that is not possible. Maybe it's possible from your end but probably not a good idea. Robert and Jennifer would love to pick your brain about scientific advancements but again probably not a good idea.

At any rate, I hope this is the first in a long line of entries to you. I know Jennifer has begun hers not sure about the rest of the team. I'll update in a few days. We've got a couple of busy days coming up with planned missions all across the country. I need to get some sleep.

End personal log.

Elias sat stunned for a moment before quickly selecting the next entry. Jonathan Power's voice soon filled the room again.

Jonathan Power Personal Log Oct 22, 2148

I had intended to update a few days ago but well what's that old saying? Oh, yes,...the best laid plans of mice and men. Our planned attacks went well but we were laid up at the Resistance hospital in Atlanta for a few days. Matt and Robert were both injured. Matt required surgery to repair some of the damage from a blast from Soaron. They're both doing better, so we were finally able to return to our base. We're all a little banged up, but Matt and Robert were the most seriously injured. The hardest part of the battle is the same as always for me. Jennifer is back in the thick of it. Right where she wants to be. Right where I don't want her to be. I would much rather that she stay at the base or at the very least in the ship but I have to be realistic and realize that she will never agree to such a plan. So far she hasn't been seriously injured since we got her back. I'm a little worried of what my reaction will be when it does happen. I know it will happen again. I'm sure we'll all collect more scars and injuries before this war is over. At least the missions were successful.

The Resistance received good intel that a new biomech plant was under construction and that a large supply convoy was on its way there. We attacked the convoy, seized the supplies, and destroyed the factory as well. All that is left of the emerging plant is a hole in the ground. Thankfully there were no Resistance casualties, just injuries. The same is not true of the Dread Youth who were with the convoy. There were several casualties among their ranks. One of whom was familiar to Jennifer. The over unit in charge had been one of her commanding officers when Jennifer was a cadet. It's not the first time she's seen someone she once knew in the Youth dead on the battlefield, but it always upsets her a bit, because she knows that it's another life lost to the Machine Empire. She's been a little down since the battle but she'll bounce back in a few days. She always does. She never lets anything keep her down for long. It's one of her best traits but one that at times frustrates me as she also applies that philosophy to physical injuries. She always has. From the moment we rescued her she pushes through anything to get back out there and make a difference. To save lives. In the early days it was because she felt she needed to make up for the evil she'd been forced to be a party to in the Dread Youth. Now she just refuses to allow Dread to destroy any more lives as long as there is breath in her body.

Over the years we've gone a round or two over her failure to take the time necessary to heal and I'm sure we'll go a few more before it's all over. To be honest I don't really care if we do. I'm just glad she's here for us to do that. Besides making up is the best part of having a fight anyway.

Before she "died" I kept telling myself someday I'll do this or that. And then someday was gone. We always think we have all the time in the world. I should have known better. I did know better but just kept fooling myself. I'm not fooling myself anymore. Those seven months taught me that not only are we not guaranteed tomorrow, we need to treasure every moment we have with those we love while we have them. I'm going to ask Jennifer to marry me tonight. Before I had always planned to wait until we won the war. Now I don't want to wait a moment longer. I don't even have a ring to give her. My Dad told me once that Mom had intended to give me her rings one day but as things turned out that's not possible now. I will find a way to at least get us something to wear as wedding bands. I want the world to know we belong to each other.

It's strange in a way. For so many years I was completely focused on winning the war. Defeating Dread. Avenging my father. Then we rescued Jennifer and our perspective changed drastically. Until then we'd had no idea how the Youth functioned or were trained or anything. We got a first hand look at how truly depraved Dread had become. If anything learning from Jennifer how the Youth Corp operated strengthened my resolve to defeat Dread.

Jennifer likes to say we taught her how to be human, but to be perfectly honest, Elias, she taught us. We'd all been fighting for survival for so long that I think we forgot exactly what we were fighting for. Watching her learn and grow as a person was an honor and somewhere in the middle of all of it, I fell in love with her.

I'll have to tell you the story of when I realized I was in love with her another time. She's waiting for me.

End Personal Log.

Elias wasted no time in quickly selecting the next entry.

Jonathan Power Personal Log Nov 1, 2148

It's a been busy week. We had several supply missions out to the East Coast as well as the Gulf Coast. Had a run in with Soaron. Again. That damn bio-bird as Jennifer calls him, truly has a knack for showing up at the worst possible times. We were attempting to land near old Pensacola, when the alarm went off. Jennifer is one of the best if not the best pilot in the resistance but even she admits it's pretty damn hard to maneuver the jump ship when it's as fully loaded as it was at the time. Thankfully the UTO had fighters in the area that were able to lend a hand. That is not always the case. We were lucky that day. We were able to deliver the supplies and head home. Really, the worst part of the day was after we got home and began repairs on the jump ship. The power flow regulators going to the engines had been damaged during our scuffle with Soaron. Jennifer had managed a work around to get us home. However, some unforeseen damage to the secondary system that controls the pressure in the fuel lines had also been damaged. So by the time, Jennifer and Scout went to remove the plating and repair the damage there was quite a bit of pressure built up. Needless to say we had a minor explosion and small fire on our hands. Not to mention one very pissed off pilot. With a second degree burn on her left arm and some cuts from the flying metal. To be honest, pissed doesn't even begin to cover it. Jennifer hates it when she can't complete the repairs herself. Robert had similar injuries. They're both going to be fine in a few days.

It took several days to get the ship repaired. Thankfully we had almost all the parts we needed and those we didn't have we were able to acquire fairly quickly. So now Jennifer is happy that her ship is again in working order.

So I've talked this long and I haven't even told you how she answered me. I won't go into specific details of how the evening went other than to say that she said yes. So eventually I'll have other details about when we plan to get married. We didn't really get that far into the discussion after she said yes.

Anyway, we have another couple of hectic weeks coming up. We've got a meeting with some of the other resistance leaders next week. We're trying to iron out some details, but we're looking at actually restarting up one of the military academies to train an actual resistance army. We don't know how long this war is going to last, but we all agree that it will definitely be shorter if we can get a trained force in the field. Obviously, they want Jennifer to design some classes on how to specifically deal with the Dread Youth, and then how to outfly them.

Jennifer is concerned that if she gets involved with the academy she won't be able to be out in the field. She wants to be on the front lines, but I can honestly tell you it won't break my heart if she's at the academies more than in the field.

At any rate, it's getting late. We've got another busy day tomorrow.

End Personal Log.

Elias sat back in his chair. He couldn't believe his ears. While technically, he'd just met the man a few hours ago, it was also technically true that the man had been dead for a little over a hundred and fifty years. To hear Captain Power's voice tell his story in his words. It was indescribable. It was a treasure of immeasurable value. He couldn't help but wonder how much of the history they currently know might actually be wrong. He looked at the case that Col. Power left him. There were hundreds of data files in there. It would take him years to listen to all of them. Even if it took the rest of his life he would make sure he listened to every last one of them. He owed them that much and so much more for the sacrifices they made for the future.

He carefully selected another file, took a sip of his drink, and sat back to listen and learn.

End Chpt 2