CH 102

Cameron looked over to see all the girls were watching the ship come down. Many had their hands in the raincoat pockets, raincoats open enough to show for certain, every one was female. Before the ship touched down, Cameron announced, "Do NOT let the presence of any hostages deter you! Joan, Allison, stay out here and guard the group."

"We will!" they chorused.

Cameron looked over at the crates, then back up at the ship Settling down. "I start it," she said.

"I follow quickly behind you and keep the way into that ship open," Delilah added.

The ship sat down. The cargo and entry doors opened. The stairway was wide. As soon as it was down, an inner door slid open and two men marched out, followed by four, then four women with four more men behind them. Two men appeared, a woman each in front of them to stay at the top of the stairs. A platform slid out from the loading hatch filled with men.

One of the lead men talked and gestured in Atlantian. Cameron walked up to him. He pulled a pistol and barked a command at her. She drew her sword and sliced it deep across his belly in one motion, then on the return swing, as she stepped to the side and beheaded the man next to him.

Delilah brought out her plasma cannon and shot, The two men and the woman atop the stairs flash burned, falling as burning bits and ash. Joan. Allison and all the women to the side pulled their pistols and shot at the shocked men.

The faces of the crates burst out to fall. Inside the terminators opened up on the platform of men, and a few standing just inside the hatch with their plasma weapons. Once they were all nothing but burning debris, they charged and jumped onto the platform and onto the ship.

Cameron led the charge up the burnt staircase as the men in front of her fell to pistol fire. Jumps up the stairs got her inside, Delilah right behind her. Pistol on one hand, Sword in the other Cameron killed everyone she saw on her way to the control room. Ragged, screaming women who curled up in a ball, she bypassed. Cameron walked into the control center a man came out from behind a cabinet and shot her. She stopped raised her pistol and killed him. Delilah and Cameron shut the ship down except for lighting and airflow.

All through the ship was chaos, men who tried to fight the terminators flooding in fell as charred remains. Some tried to run out the front. They died in a hail of bullets from those sexy women they thought they were going to have.

By the time the army rolled out of the hanger, Cameron had control over the ship and all the men who'd been on that ship were dead.

Searching the ship and getting the surviving Atlantians, 14 women and one boy, off and taken to medical care, took much longer than securing the ship. Except for some plasma holes, the ship was intact.

"That was faster than I thought it would be," General Watson said.

John grinned. "We smashed a fly with a sledgehammer to make sure the fly didn't cry out. My question is, will there be any more of them?" He looked at Dave.

Dave was sitting and looking a bit weak. He was expecting a battle, not a mass slaughter. "You even killed three of those hostages," he said weakly.

"But three lived," John replied. "You, yourself said those violent ones killed hostages to prove their point. I look at it as fast action saved three of them." He turned to eye Dave, and asked, "How many ships left your planet that you know of?"

Dave asked, "Why?"

"Because I want to know if we might have more visitors." John said flatly.

"Six ships were made. We got information five launched. As I said, number three never left the pad, it was over-run."

"Try to contact the other four," John told him. "If they aren't someplace they can live decently, they can come here."

"They can. Also, we want to know which ships you can't contact, or find." General Watson said.

"I'm surprised you haven't done that already," John added.

Dave hung his head. "We didn't want the violent ones to find us and we knew ship three was taken over. We didn't want to be found."

"It's here now and the violent ones are gone. Contact your other ships and let them know. I am sure they are worried also." John said.

.

A cover was put over ship number three to hide it from satellite surveillance. Cleaning the ship out, they found bones in the bottom of the cookers. Atlantian bones. Stories from the survivors told of women who could no longer service, or disobeyed, were eaten. Their remaining men were the first to be killed and eaten when the food was running out.

Getting the survivors down into the towns, the women wept with relief that they had survived the long abuse, and the final massive violence that freed them. Initially, they were sure they were all about to be killed.

One of the women who wasn't hurt bad, she had been very cooperative to save her own life, was shocked that those who were violent were wiped out by an even stronger violence. This one was not hate filled or demanded compliance. It was a cold, nearly emotionless wave of destruction that swept through their ship that no amount of hate or bullets could stop. Even the last surviving violent ones were so frightened by it, they tried to flee. If anyplace in the universe was safe, it had to be with their leader. If she could give herself to him, she was assured she'd be safe.

Tanni asked the nurses, they didn't know who it was. She asked town men, they didn't know either. They directed her to Dave, their overall leader and the one who interacted the most with humans. She was directed to his office. She did get her free pick of clothes and was assigned to an apartment where they took care of the roof gardens. Once she found her place she went to the mid tunnel between the towns to woman taking messages in Dave's office. The woman told her Dave was still on the surface, Tanni sat down to wait for him.

It was hours later when Dave returned, looking worn out. He woke her up gently and said, "Lady? Can you come back tomorrow?"

"Dave?" she asked groggily.

"That's right. Go home, get some good sleep and come back tomorrow." he said gently.

Casting him a pleading look, she asked, "Who was it who led those that destroyed the violent ones so fast?"

He smiled, "That was John Connor. He has left with all his people."

"Where did they go?"

"Back to their home. They only came to keep us out of danger from those violent people who came. I need some rest, I think you do also." he explained.

"I do, but where can I find John Connor?" she asked.

"You want to thank him?"

"I do!"

"Tomorrow, OK? Right now, go get some sleep. It's a long way to where they live."

Tanni got up. "Thank you, sorry to bother you."

"No problem, go have a good sleep." Dave told her.

Tanni went back to her apartment. Tomorrow, she was going to find this John Connor and make herself his primary female.

.

Joan and her football mates were returned to Austin. Although all the girls were eager to tell about their adventure, Joan reminded them they couldn't say a word. They had gone, they came back unharmed. All of them wanted to participate again if anything else came up like that. That was some wild shit!

.

Dave did ping the other four ships. Only two returned the ping. Number two and number five. Contacting them to tell them that number three ship was here and was cleared of any violent people. only one ship responded. Number five had found a home on a planet 145 light years away.

General Watson wanted to know what was up with number two. It was only 80 light years away. He asked for permission to take the intact number One Atlantian ship to search for survivors. He was told Astronauts were going to be assigned with volunteer Atlantians for that mission.

.

With the potential disaster over, The Connors and all the terminators went home. It was a good thing they had their own vehicles, because the army got them there, but there was no cargo plane to take them back. General Watson did give them gas money.

How generous of them.

On the ride home that took them days, Cameron used John's laptop to check on her China progress. Beijing was silent. Their advanced phone system was on it's ass also. Near the border with Vladivostok, a report she intercepted showed the Chinese had 13,549 casualties, 6187 of them dead, and lost 27 tanks and 205 artillery pieces, the Commander there said they had nothing left to defend themselves with and could not continue to push towards Vladivostok. They were begging for reinforcements and guidance. Cameron sent them a reply 'from' Beijing. 'No forces available. Surrender'.

She was sure that is what the CCP wanted them to do. If she was running it. Actually, at the moment, she was. So she sent out orders to release 300,000 troops from service, remove 200 aircraft from service and mothball 50 ships. Viruses into the banking systems was good also, they currently didn't have any ad they needed to learn to live without all that money. She then sent out an order to set up local and provincial public elections for whoever the people saw fit.

That should make the Chinese happy. Since they had attacked Russia, Cameron was sure they would be busy for a while.

.

Sonya was happy. Little Dennis was a bright eyed baby and curious. Carol was happy to stand in for Sonya at the furniture factory while Sonya took some leave with her newborn. Hearing the Connors went on a mission, she and Mark went up to the lake house to check on the kids.

They were happy to see Barnabas and Vicky up here, and everyone wanted to see Dennis. The girls fawned over the baby. While Sonya and the girls had a 'baby party', Mark talked to Barnabas.

"Where did the run off to this time?" Mark asked.

"Apparently more Atlantians were coming, not very nice ones," Barnabas explained. "They went very well armed. All those terminators working on the house for Joan's family left with them. John called yesterday, said everyone is fine and they were on their way home."

"It's good none of them got hurt," Mark said. "I take it it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be?"

Barnabas grinned. "All John said was it was like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. The ones on that ship were all mean and cruel, but they were not very good in a fight."

Daniel came running in. "Barnabas! I was watching financial news, and this news flash came on. China and Russia are at war! From what the reporter said, China went to move into Vladivostok to take it over, and there was a big battle! The Chinese lost and now Russia is bombing the crap out of them! Airports, coastal cities, military bases, you name it! It showed a clip of Putin making a public statement that he will end Chinese aggression the whole world has been putting up with. India has agreed to help him! There has been no official word out of China, only reports of internet, computer and phone systems down all over the country. So far, the US and Japan have decided to stay out of it unless nuclear weapons are used."

"Wow, didn't see that coming," Mark noted. "I thought those countries were friendly towards each other."

"China has been doing many dirty deeds," Barnabas replied. "It looks like they picked the wrong country to mess with."

"This war will probably expand unless something is done about it." Daniel said.

"Maybe we should keep an eye on the news," Mark said.

"Yes, indeed."

Hearing them, Lily ran over and asked, 'We're not getting involved, are we?"

"Hope not," Barnabas told her. "Only time will tell."

.

Almost home, John has a phone call as they passed through Johnson City.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Connor, it's General Watson. The SITCOM has been raised to two. No action needed, but keep your people ready to deploy in case they are needed."

"What happened?"

"China attacked Russia, and Russia is pounding them hard. We got confirmation beside on land, the Russians took out most communications in and around Beijing and sinking every Chinese ship they can find. Russia has also officially recognized Taiwan as a separate country. China is also finding out the Russian fighter jets are better than theirs."

"More good news, huh?" John asked with a huff.

"Yes, No action yet, just stand ready."

"Thanks for the warning," John said with a sigh.

Cameron smirked. "I imagine China is having a rough time of it. They must have tried to release that virus they were working on."

"Real or computer?" John asked.

"A computer virus this time. I found it finished it and redirected it from their intended targets to their own capitol. All their networking is corrupt and their phone systems also got corrupted when they tried to release it," Cameron explained.

Delilah laughed.

John smirked and said, "Well, they got plenty of people, so I doubt Russia will take over all of China."

.

Since the Connors would be home later today, Mark and Sonya stayed at the lake house to greet them when they got home. Helping to get dinner started, Sonya noticed Nana pulled one of her arms off to look at her shoulder.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Nana glanced at her and raised the short stump of her arm up. "Nana's stumps got bigger. The cap on the end so Nana's arm can fit on is itching and hurts a bit."

"Can you fit your arm on without that cap?" Sonya asked.

"Nana don't know." Nana said. She pulled the cap off and put her arm back on. She move it around a bit and smiled. "Nana can!" she beamed. Nana then pulled her other arm off, took the cap off, and put her arms back on. "Nana's arms fit better now!"

Nana then sat down and took her legs off one at a time to remove the caps and put her legs back on. Standing up, Nana beamed Sonya a smile. "This is much better! thank you, Sonya!"

Sonya had noted the red on the ends of Nana's appendages where the caps had been. Her arms and legs were beginning to grow back. "Nana, you've been drinking the milk here?" she asked.

Nana looked at her. "Nana has. That's OK, isn't it?"

"That's fine, Nana." Sonya knew the fake arms and legs were hollow. That would let her real arms and legs grow out. "Keep drinking it, it's good for you."

"Nana thinks the milk here is really good. Kouta told Nana that people use goat milk instead of cow milk. It it goat milk?"

Sonya grinned. "No it's Delilah and Cameron milk. Lately, it's been mine."

Nana stared up at Sonya. "But, none of you are cows."

Delilah laughed. "Dear sweet Nana, there are things I need to explain to you. The milk we give has healing properties. Those caps don't fit because you are slowly regrowing your arms and legs. Cows and goats have udders that produce milk. We have breasts."

"Milk comes from there?" Nana asked gazing at Sonya.

"Yes, that is how we feed babies. Once you start growing up, then we milk ourselves and give it out in glasses of milk. Once we get everything going, I'll show you."

.

Daniel, feeling anxious to see Jackie, wanted something to do while he was waiting. Mark came by and scrubbed him in the head. "Need a job?" he asked. "Come on, we can get the dinning room set up while the girls are cooking."

"OK." Daniel said and got up.

They went through the dinning room and found Lily at the kitchen doorway. "You can't go in!" she announced.

Daniel eyed her. "Why?"

"Sonya is milking herself, showing Nana how it's done. She's got humongous boobies!" Lily announced.

Mark laughed. Yeah, Sonya did. "Well then, Daniel, let's go find something else to do."

Mark took him out back and they spend some time cleaning debris off the driveway.

They didn't find much, but the slow walk down the driveway looking for things did keep Daniel occupied. It was beginning to get dark. Down near the parking area they did chase a snake off the driveway. Daniel they head car coming, and turned to see headlights on him. It was Christine. "They're back!" he cried.

"Let them park," Mark said and led Daniel off the the side.

Daniel watched them park. The instant Jackie was out, she ran to him. After a long hug and a kiss, Daniel asked, "Everyone OK, you didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Not us!" Jackie beamed. "That was the shortest fight I ever saw! They didn't stand a chance." She then frowned bit. "It was almost too short."

"Isn't that good?" Daniel asked.

"I didn't even get a chance to take a plasma shot," she complained.

"Maybe next time," Delilah said and patted Jackie on the back as she passed them.

Nana yelled out a window, "Dinner's almost ready"

.

Going inside JJ was glopped on by a happy Peggy and Lily. Daniel hovered near Jackie, the adults just relaxed, glad to be home. As for their trip, the consensus was that the worst part about it was the long ride home. The army got them there quick, but they had to drive home. They also agreed that for a battle, it was very short for all the planning and preparing they did for it. They had overestimated the capabilities of the violent Atlantians.

After dinner and cleanup, not having any for nearly a month, JJ was dragged off to their room by Peggy and Lily. Daniel and Jackie soon disappeared also.

.

In the morning Tanni went back to see Dave. She was in his office waiting for him to get back for an hour or two. When he did come in, she acted her meekest and pleaded to know where John Connor was.

Dave took her in his office and said, "John knows all of you who survived your long trip are grateful to him and his group for saving you. You don't need to go thank him personally."

"But I do," Tanni insisted. "I need to go to John Connor."

Dave eyed her for a minute, then he falt why she was so intent on seeing Connor. "Tanni," he said cautiously, "You can't go and become his wife. He already has two, and they have children."

"I can be a good wife." she insisted.

"Tanni, you'd be dead. John's wives are very strong and they do violence with a capital "V". You would not survive."

Tanni sat up and said," I can show him how good I will be for him."

"This isn't Atlantis," Dave said firmly. "Here on Earth, things are much different. I highly doubt Cameron or Delilah would let you get near John. I've been to their house. You would not survive the day. If one of them didn't put you in great pain before they killed you, the other one would. Earth women are very territorial, so are the men."

"But I can be useful..."

"Tanni, listen. John's son, John Junior was here. He had picked a girl named Peggy as his. Another man insisted Johnny hadn't mated with her yet, so he was going to take Peggy. Johnny nearly killed him and frightened the whole group of people around him. Their family is highly aggressive, and even when they are calm and peaceful, you could not live their lifestyle. They see danger as a challenge. They don't run from danger, they run to it." he explained.

To get her to understand, he asked, "Remember the Charos back home?"

Tanni nodded. "Yes, it was dangerous to get near them."

"Let me show you a picture," he said. He brought out his viewpad and searched briefly. While he searched, he explained, "They have something similar here. They call them alligators. Alligators are three times the size of Charos." He found the picture of Joan in the water, the alligator right in front of her. He showed it to her.

"This is they daughter, Joan. that's an alligator, right there with her in the water."

Tanni's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry she died," she said automatically.

"Joan's not dead. From what I know, that thing is her pet. She had to save someone from being eaten by it. Joan is absolutely fearless. They all are. Can you live even knowing that thing is around, roaming free? There are many of those in the lake the Connor kids swim in. There are long legless reptiles there also that are very poisonous. Tanni, trying to go to John Connor to be his mate is a very bad idea."

"That is..." Tanni said weakly.

"Do you know what John told me about fighting those violent men? It was like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. In other words, very easy. Jackie, another of their children, wondered why they were called. Those men were not even a challenge for them. She was disappointed they didn't fight back harder."

Tanni stared at him.

"Humans can be very thoughtful and very nice people," Dave told her. "They can also be very violent and cruel if they feel there is a need to do so. If you go and try to make yourself part of their family, like I said, You won't live out the day."

Stunned Tanni nodded slowly, got up and left.

.

With things calming down in Driftwood, and Joan, Bob and Allison home, Nana got to swim in the lake with them. One of Jackie's old tails fit on her so she didn't look like a torso stump. Jackie also told Nana she needed a tail to make herself look bigger. predators, alligators and some fish, saw something smaller as prey. She didn't want to be fighting off predators constantly.

The NFL season was coming up, Joan, Bob and Allison got ready to leave again.

.

Cameron got a call from Kouta in Japan. Their whole family wanted to see Nana, but they could not afford the time of plane ticket to get there.

I'll bring Nana when I can," Cameron told him.

This should be interesting.

Note: I have been thinking about converging a few of my short stories onto one large one, including a couple longer stories to form on story since they all are in the same world, just different time lines. The stories are :

Terminator on a Battlestar : all the one shot 'day 'series stories : Days of Sky net - which circles back to the end of Terminator on a Battlestar. And yes, of course, editing will also go into it.

Is there anyone who'd like to see this? Or do you have any suggestions?