Terminator: Resistance

Chapter Thirty One: Last Chance

To say that Baron was surprised at the lengths that Rivers went to in order to get violet plasma weapons for South Division, was an understatement. The Commander was dumbstruck that he would go all the way back to Pasadena on his own, but this was understandable given the time constraints on downloading from that damaged HK. In fact, if the Sergeant had gotten there even a few minutes later, the repair crew would have arrived before the codes could be downloaded, and the Resistance would still be relying on red plasma.

Just like when the first plasma weapons had been unlocked, Baron transmitted the security codes to John Conner's North Division, and from there he would send them to the rest of the Resistance everywhere. Within a matter of days the first unlocked rifles were being made available to advanced recon scouts, with more soldiers trading in their red plasma for the far more destructive violet, including Rivers, who had to admit that it felt strange to be holding the purple tinted weapon, and it… it kind of vibrated just a tiny bit when he held it.

Suddenly Skynet's T-800s weren't so scary anymore, at least not in small groups, with the new weapons tearing through their armored chassis with only a few more shots than it took to kill a human, so the battle field had been significantly leveled. The machines still had the advantage of numbers, as well as their HK units, but for now Rivers was the hero of the day. However, when questioned about Dr. Mack's progress with the Infiltrator's CPU, the Sergeant honestly had no idea whether or not the doctor could mess with it… so he just told Baron that no progress had been made, and that seemed to satisfy her.

Did Rivers like lying to his Commander? No, but it was better than her expecting him to kill a man because of a mistake he made like… five years ago, or whenever. Besides, on top of just not wanting to kill a human, some of the other stuff that he and Dr. Mack discussed, things that it was probably not a good idea to share with Baron, made the Sergeant believe that the doctor was more valuable alive. One of the things that had happened with the chip was being able to read some of the technical information, nothing that could control the program, but it provided some very valuable insight, beginning with the fact that this model was so new that the first prototypes had just rolled off the assembly line a couple days ago.

But that was impossible, since the Infiltrator, T-850 or whatever, had been hunting Rivers down for months, and that was when the weird conversations started. Somehow with his advanced knowledge and equipment, Dr. Mack was able to get glimpses, sort of like snapshots of some of Skynet's data stream, allowing him to partially monitor their plans. One of these plans included a project known as TDE, or Time Displacement Equipment, which apparently the machines had been working on for quite some time, but progress was slow. If completed, it would allow the user to basically step inside, pick a date, and suddenly be back at that point in time… like, real time travel.

"Well, if it's not finished, then there's no problem, right?" Rivers had asked. "It's no good if they can't make it work."

"No, you're wrong, Rivers." The doctor had argued. "The first T-850 prototype was completed days ago, and yet a pretty successful one has been after you for months… a unit that didn't exist yet. This can only mean that Skynet hasn't completed TDE, but they will if they aren't stopped."

Forwarding everything he learned to John Conner, including the codes for violet plasma, Rivers headed back to the Resistance bunker to report in, but as he walked down the underground corridors, waving hello to friends like Ryan and Erin… the cryptic warning of the Stranger echoed in his mind, causing him to stop in his tracks. It sounded pretty important that everyone he cared about left, but go where? It was the same argument inside of his own head that was stuck on repeat every time the Sergeant tried to make a decision, and over the next few days there was just no way for him to figure it out.

But suddenly it was too late for decision making, with news coming from John Conner himself that the Infiltrators and possibility of TDE coming online being too great of a threat, meaning that an all out attack had become their only option. Yeah, after hearing the Commander's reaction to all the, as she put it, lunatic shit Connor was spitting, the Sergeant was glad that he hadn't told her himself. If he had, Baron probably would have laughed at him or hit him, but she had no choice but to listen to Conner. Were they ready for an all out attack? No, not by a longshot, but that didn't change the plan.

Thanks to the latest security codes transmitted from Dr. Mack, as well as the usage of that same satellite, not only had the doctor been able to get more snapshots of Skynet's data stream, but he had finally been able to trace back the signal to its origin. Instead of being far up north in some hardened old military bunker, apparently the machines had been playing it smart and hiding their central mainframe in plain sight. Only about ten miles away from their current position, inside a place called the Griffith Observatory, the enemy's mechanical heart was exposed, and it was South Division's job to take it out.

"So, this is it?" He asked. "We're taking the fight to Skynet?"

"Actually, you are." Baron replied, surprising him. "Conner wants you to lead the attack while I stay here and coordinate with both you and him. North Division is causing a diversion by attacking a major base up there, and when Skynet sends reinforcements to assist, that's when your team will strike."

According to intelligence, Skynet wasn't aware that its location was compromised, and was trying to keep attention off itself by maintaining only a light security force, so… so there was a chance that this insane plan could actually work. Yeah… yeah, there was a chance that this war could be over by tomorrow. Since he had spent his whole life living in fear of the machines, the prospect of them all being shut down or destroyed seemed pretty impossible, even just to imagine. So, if the war was over, what could he do? Just walk around and go anywhere without having to worry about being killed, even in the daytime?

"Gear up and roll out is at 2200 hours, Rivers." The Commander said, interrupting his thoughts. "So, what are you just standing there for? Go fuck your girlfriend, and then get some sleep. That means get out of my sight, Sergeant."

Not sure what he should say in reaction to this, he simply left the command room, and headed back down the corridor. By this time news of an upcoming large scale attack was spreading throughout the bunker, even though no one really knew the details yet, and… and if Rivers was going to get his friends out of there like the Stranger warned, well… this seemed like a pretty good time to do so. None of the soldiers would have run away, and he needed them for the attack, same with Baron, but maybe Ryan or Erin could be convinced. The first one that he ran into was Ryan, but when asked if he thought it would be safer to leave the bunker, the older man just looked at him funny.

"Doesn't seem like a good idea to me, Jacob." Ryan replied. "With some kind of big attack coming up, being out there on the surface seems like the fastest way to get yourself killed. Besides, the soldiers are saying that they need us techs to keep everything running during the battle… no time to save your own skin, you know?"

As soon as the older man said these words and continued on his way, Rivers felt something, sort of like when Laura and Mark left a few weeks ago… but instead of a good feeling, it was like just for an instant the bottom dropped out of his stomach. The feeling passed after about a minute, and then the Sergeant looked around for Erin, finding her at the infirmary. Well, thanks to her advanced medical knowledge, it was more like her infirmary, with the older woman giving orders to everyone else who was assigned there, even the soldiers. She was an incredibly valuable asset to the Resistance, even Baron said so to her once in private, but… but Rivers still needed to try.

"Leave right now, when a large operation is going to take place?" Erin asked in disbelief. "No, I couldn't, Baron has asked me to expand the infirmary, and even given me a few more soldiers to help with the wounded, and… and there's always so many wounded when it comes to fighting Skynet."

The Sergeant understood her reasoning, and she was absolutely right, but as soon as the older woman said these words and got back to work, that same bad feeling reappeared in the bottom of his stomach. It was like he knew something, but had no idea what it was… a feeling that he hadn't minded when it was nice, but this was different. Damn it, what was the Stranger hiding from him? Why couldn't the hooded man tell him enough so that his arguments made sense to others? With nothing else but that feeling to tell him that getting his friends out of the bunker was important, Rivers hurried on until he found Patrick sitting on a small wooden box, drawing on the wall with his chalk.

"Hey, Patrick… you know Baron doesn't like that, right?" He asked, the feeling of unknown urgency getting stronger. "Is your sister around? I need to speak to her, uh… in private."

"Yeah, she's in our room." The little boy replied, getting up and putting the chalk away. "The quartermaster said you didn't have the guts to make a move on her, whatever that means. I'll be in the mess hall."

Well, that was a great thing for the quartermaster to tell a little kid, Rivers thought, turning toward the door while Patrick walked away. So far no sinking feeling just yet, so that was good… as far as he knew. Pullin the makeshift curtain-door aside just enough to go in, the Sergeant found Jennifer sitting on her cot, trying to repair one of her boots enough so that it wouldn't fall apart when she walked around. The young woman smiled when she saw him, saying that it was much too hard to spend any time with him lately.

"Jenn, I need to talk to you." Surprising himself when he used the same name the Stranger mentioned before. "Do you have a minute? It's really important."