Chapter 25: Decisions
"Kyle?"
Kyle could hear his name being called in the distance. He thought he recognized the voice but couldn't quite tell who it was. Come to think of it he couldn't tell where he was. Was he dead?
"Kyle wake up." The voice was closer now and he recognized it as Faye's. Wake up? He already was awake, he thought. Maybe both of them were dead. That theory proved to be false as he began to feel his head pounding. He had to be alive, there was no way his head could hurt this badly if he was dead. As his senses came back to him he remembered what was going on and how he got like this.
"Is he waking up?" Another voice, Ed's, asked.
"Uuunngh." Kyle tired to answer yes but his motor functions were not quite up to speed yet.
"What did he say?" Faye said.
"I said uuuungh. What else would someone say after being knocked out?" Kyle said and opened his eyes. His vision was fuzzy but he was able to see the relieved faces of Ed and Faye.
"You had us worried." Faye told him. "We've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes."
"Guess I bumped my head harder then I thought." Kyle responded, trying to make light of the situation even though his vision was still blurred and it felt like someone was trying to burst from the inside of his head using a sledge hammer. He looked around and saw that he was still in the Bebop's bridge, propped up against one of the walls. He shook his head to clear his vision but that didn't help. In fact when he looked at the floor his vision got fuzzier and it looked like the floor was actually moving. He was beginning to wonder if the blow to his head had permanently damaged his vision when he felt something in his lap.
SLURP
Well at least his vision wasn't as bad as he originally thought. He had seen something moving it just wasn't the floor.
"Nice to see you to Ein." Kyle said and scratched Ein behind the ears. Ein barked in response.
"Looks like you had everybody worried." Faye remarked.
"Guess I did." Kyle responded. His head might still be pounding but his vision was getting sharper and he was able to see clearly. "What happened while I was out? The last thing I remember is Terminators all over the place."
"Ed took care of them!" Ed announced proudly.
"You took care of half of them." Faye corrected. "Arnold took care of the ones in the hangar." Ein barked in protest.
"Don't forget, Ein helped to." Ed reminded Faye. Ein barked in agreement.
"Would somebody mind telling me what you two are talking about?" Kyle asked, becoming more confused by the second.
"When machine men were chasing Ed through Bebop Ed and MPU made a machine man listen to Ed and took away Big Brain's Big Bangs." Ed told him. When she didn't say anything else Kyle turned to Faye, looking even more confused.
"I didn't get it either, so I asked MPU for the details." Faye said. "The Terminators chased Ed to a hole in the wall where she hacked into Skynet. Somehow she was able to get control of the Terminator that was trying to grab her then turned him against the others, and managed to destroy all of Skynet's nukes."
"Ed didn't take care of Big Bangs, MPU did." Ed spoke up. "Didn't want special delivery from Skynet so MPU sent it back."
"Wait a minute." Kyle interrupted. "You're telling me that Skynet shot a nuke at us?"
"And MPU made it go back to where it came from, blowing up the rest of them." Faye finished. Kyle leaned back against the wall, a look of disbelief on his face. Skynet had been designed to outthink and outmaneuver the best military minds on Earth and Ed, with MPU's help, was beating it almost as easily as she had Arnold in their chess games.
"And just what did our furry little friend here do?" Kyle asked, patting Ein. "Help you reprogram the Terminator?" He wouldn't have been surprised if the answer had been yes. Ed laughed at the question.
"He somehow managed to distract the Terminator that was after Ed and give her enough time to take it over." Faye answered. Kyle looked back at Ein, who again seemed to be smiling.
"When this is over remind me to get you a medal." Kyle told Ein, who barked at the compliment. He somehow felt a breeze inside the bridge and remembered that the Terminator's had smashed their way in. That raised another question.
"What happened to the other fighters?" He asked Faye.
"Don't worry we got them." Faye assured them. "I took care of the three that were after you and Jet and Doohan got the rest."
"I only counted two attacking us. Where was the third?" Kyle asked. Faye gave an angry huff before answering.
"It had me flying through hoops trying to get a clean shot at it." She noticed Kyle's questioning looked and continued. "Skynet decided to be a wise-ass and built the fighters so their guns were on a turret. Took me almost ten minutes but I finally managed to get above the bastard and nail him."
"And Arnold was able to shoot down the one near the hangar." Kyle said. "That leaves one left."
"I managed to take him by surprise." Faye replied. "He never saw me coming and got a missile up the tailpipe."
"Well it looks like we managed to win again." Kyle said. "And managed to get a second Terminator to boot." Ed began to sulk. "What's with her?"
"Arnold told us when he came inside the ship looking for you he found two Terminators fighting and had to destroy both of them since he couldn't tell which one was on our side." Faye explained.
"Arnold broke Ed's new toy." Ed complained. Kyle just shrugged.
"If I was in Arnold's place I would have done the same thing." Kyle told her. "Better to be safe then sorry. Come to think of it where are Arnold and the others?"
"Checking out the damage." Faye told him. "Jet had some interesting phrases when he saw how banged up the ship was."
"I'll bet." Kyle said with a laugh. "How bad are we off?"
"Real bad." A gruff voice snarled from the doorway. Jet walked into the bridge with a scowl on his face and several tools jammed into his pockets. "Good to see you're awake Kyle but you were probably better off unconscious."
"That bad?" Kyle asked.
"Worse." Jet answered. "Those bastards practically destroyed one engine and shot up every cable leading to the second. We're lucky they didn't hit the fuel lines otherwise you wouldn't have made it to the ground."
"Luck had nothing to do with it Jet." Kyle said.
"Yeah, I know. They weren't trying to destroy the ship, just board it. I guess that's a good thing but I did just did an evaluation of the damages and how long it'll take to fix them."
"Here it comes." Faye remarked. Jet ignored her and continued.
"Even with Doohan, Miles and Arnold helping me it'll take at least two weeks to repair all the damages."
"Ouch." Kyle remarked. "What about just making the Bebop flight worthy?"
"We already discussed that." Jet replied. "If we cannibalized everything we have for parts, focused on only the most vital systems for flight and took every shortcut we could it would take about two days." Kyle and Faye groaned. "And keep in mind everything will probably be held together with glue and string."
"So we'll just take our own ships." Faye said. Jet shook his head.
"We wouldn't have enough fuel to get everybody gassed up and out of here. We also can't risk injuring Kyle worse then he already is."
"Now wait a minute!" Kyle said as he stood up, bracing himself against the wall and pushing up. Ein jumped out of his lap with a surprised bark. "Sorry Ein. Look, I'm not going to endanger everyone else just because I'm hurt!" He told Jet.
"Don't worry you won't." Jet assured him. "Even if we did have the fuel using our personal ships would leave us vulnerable. We don't know how many other fighters Skynet has waiting for us and if we just leave we won't see them until it's too late. From here we have a better chance of defending ourselves. I already did a check and the radar and radio are both still working. With Ed's help were sending an SOS along ISSP frequencies, specifically we're trying to contact the group Spike and John are with. We haven't gotten any response yet but hopefully it'll reach them soon and they can pick us up."
The reason Jet was receiving no response was because back at the town there was no one to receive the message. Every officer had been given a rifle and had taken to the roofs to repel the Terminator attack. Those officers were now filing back to the square where their headquarters was set up. Spike, John, and Vicious were in the building's main office with Captain West.
"We've managed to hold them off, for now." Captain West said. "The decision that we have to deal with now is do we dig in here, and wait for help, or move to another location?"
"Has anyone else tried to contact us yet?" John asked. "Because if they have no intention of sending help we won't be able to survive another attack."
"We're trying to reestablish contact with HQ but so far nobody has bothered answering." West answered. "We have made contact with several other units but things are so chaotic right now they're getting conflicting orders. Looks like our little show managed to shake things up a bit."
"Maybe, but sitting on our hands waiting for Skynet's next surprise to come here and try to blow us away isn't what I would call a good idea." Spike spoke up.
"And just what would you suggest Spike?" West asked.
"We get as much help as we can then go after Skynet's command center."
"That's not a very well thought out plan Spike." John said. In fact it was downright insane. Skynet had thousands of Terminators and they had barely managed to fight off less then fifty.
"You asked me what I thought we should do and that was it." Spike replied with a shrug.
"And you think charging in is the best solution?" West asked.
"It's always worked before." Spike said.
"Maybe before but this is a whole different ballgame." West said. "Even if we could get sufficient forces together Skynet would be sure to notice and drop a nuke on us. I'm kind of surprised that it hasn't already, we'd be sitting ducks for one of those things if we moved or stayed."
"Skynet must be dealt with as soon as possible." Vicious said. Both Spike and John glared at him. Vicious agreeing with you was not a good thing as far as either of them was concerned. Before the conversation could go any further a sergeant appeared at the door to the office.
"Sir we're getting some radio traffic you should hear."
"Has contact been established with headquarters yet?" West asked.
"Not yet sir. What we're receiving is an SOS from a downed ship." The sergeant replied.
"Then why would we want to listen to it?" West asked.
"Because whoever's sending it is claims to be on a ship called the Bebop and are asking to speak to John or Spike." Not needing anything else Spike and John got up.
"Where's the radio?" John asked.
"This way sir." The sergeant said, motioning them to follow him. Spike stopped and turned around to see Vicious getting up.
"He stays here." Spike growled. He might have been forced to work with Vicious but he wasn't about to do him any favors. If he wanted to listen in then the best thing to do would was to have him as far away from the radio as possible.
"I do not recall anyone giving you the authority it issue orders." Vicious replied.
"You're right. He's not in charge here. I am." Turning around they saw West was now standing and had his gun out, pointed at Vicious. "Now I don't know what your beef with Spike is but I'm willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. If he says you stay, you stay. Move over to the wall." He motioned with the gun to the back wall of the office. Vicious narrowed his gaze and brought his katana into view. Knowing a threat when they saw one Spike, John and the sergeant aimed their guns. The sergeant was also pressing a button on his shoulder mike "You're outnumbered and even you can't kill all of us." He gestured with his gun again. "Get moving."
"Your actions will not do well for your position at ISSP when this situation is resolved." Vicious said as he moved to the far wall.
"If, and that's a big if, I'm still with ISSP when this is over with I'll be lucky to be checking parking meters anyway. All of us have been screwed over so one more 'mistake' isn't going to make a difference." West said as he went to the office door. Vicious said nothing and continued to glare coldly. After shutting the office door he turned to the two officers armed with shotguns that had responded to the sergeant's radio call. "If he even walks up the to the door blast him." He ordered. The two officers nodded and aimed their shotguns. West was fully aware of Vicious' reputation but was sure that even he couldn't dodge two loads of buckshot. The door was the only way in or out of the office and with the spread those guns had in so small a space they were bound to hit something if they fired.
The sergeant led them to their communications center, which was really just a room with a few of radio sets in one corner. One was trying to raise ISSP HQ and the second was searching for any other ISSP units that were out there. The sergeant pointed to a third, unmanned, radio.
"Thanks." John told him and went up to the radio. "Is this really the Bebop?" He asked into it, remembering the Terminator's ability to mimic voices. Skynet would probably be able to do the same thing.
"Of course it's us John!" Jet's voice responded. "Who else would it be!?!"
"You could just be something with Jet's voice trying to trick us." Spike replied calmly in response to Jet's outburst. He remembered what John had told them about the Terminator's voice mimicry and was being just as cautious, if a little more blunt about it.
"WHAT!?!?!"
"You know, send out a false distress signal and lure us into a trap. It's the oldest trick in the book." Spike said. The heard a loud groan from the other end.
"Spike, we were almost killed, the Bebop is wrecked, and this is NOT the time to be making jokes!!!" Spike was about to respond when John held up his hand. Seeing the grin on John's face Spike stayed quiet.
"The Bebop is wrecked?" John asked. "What did you do Jet, put it in the water? I told you the only thing holding it together was dried up gum. The last thing you want to do is get that stuff wet." He said in his best know-it–all voice. Behind him Spike started to grin to.
{This should be an interesting reaction.} He thought to himself. Jet did not disappoint him.
"You said it was the bird droppings and THAT ISN'T THE POINT!!!!" The voice practically screamed.
"He's the real deal." John said to Spike, ignoring Jet's yelling.
"The man never forgets an insult about his ship." Spike replied. On the other end Jet realized he was being tested and fought off an urge to pull out what little hair he had left. "So what's happening Jet?" Spike asked casually. Now Jet had to fight off an urge to punch the control panel. He was also glad that no one else was on the bridge with him. He could imagine their reactions and probably would have had to resist punching them. Instead he forced himself to calm down and explain the situation.
"Kyle made it back okay and he's doing fine but Skynet was tracking him so we had to take off. Then we ran into a couple of those Hunter Killer fighters, they shot up the Bebop and forced it to crash."
"Is everybody all right?" John interrupted.
"We're all ok but this is where it starts to get weird. After the Bebop crashed a bunch of Terminators got on board and started chasing Ed."
"Just Ed?" Spike asked. "Why not everybody else to?"
"We don't know." Jet answered. "All we know is that they came damn close to getting Ed and if it wasn't for her or MPU they would have."
"What did MPU do?" Spike asked.
"First of all he managed to distract Skynet long enough to take one of the Terminators over. Then he managed to destroy all of Skynet's nuclear weapons…"
"He did what!?!" Spike and John shouted.
"You heard that right. I don't know exactly how but MPU was able to redirect one of Skynet's missiles and blasted the rest of them to hell and gone. The best part is according to Skynet's own files it doesn't have and more nuclear weapons." Spike and John began to grin.
"Jet, you don't know how good that news is." Spike said. With the nuclear threat no longer a factor the path was clear for the ISSP and even the military to act against Skynet. It wouldn't be easy but with the nukes gone it wouldn't be impossible either.
"Well that's about all the good news we've got." Jet replied. "We're stranded, Kyle is still in pretty bad shape from before and we have no real way to get out of here."
"Don't worry Jet, we'll get the captain to send you some help. Now that we know about Skynet's nukes we can expect to get a lot more help then what we have here."
"You guys obviously came though it in one piece." Jet said.
"We were lucky." John stated. "We had the high ground, better weapons, and knowledge of the attack so we came out of it with only a few minor injuries."
"That's good. We saw your broadcast but the fighters kind of interrupted it."
"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be running it again, and again, and again." Spike said.
"Probably." John agreed. "Ok Jet, send us your coordinates and we'll try to send someone out there. In the meantime the best thing to do would be to stay put and keep your eyes open."
"All right, just get someone out here fast. Sitting out in the open isn't setting well with anyone." Jet said and signed off. John turned to the sergeant who lead them in.
"Record any data that comes through and be ready to upload it on my say so."
"Yes sir." The sergeant replied. John and Spike started to leave. "Uh, sir?"
"What is it?" John asked, turning around.
"You're bleeding."
"What?" John replied and looked at his arm. The bandage was soaked through and a small trail of blood was running down his arm. "Damn! I must have reopened it when I bashed that Terminator's skull in."
"Going to get it looked at?" Spike asked. John shook his head.
"No. If it took this long for me to notice this it can't be that serious and another few minutes won't kill me." They walked back to the main office where West and the two officers were still standing guard.
"Should we let him out?" West asked when he saw Spike and John.
"If it were up to me I'd say open fire and be done with it." Spike remarked.
"But since he might still be useful we can't do that." John finished. "Keep him in there for another ten minutes and let him out. Captain West, we have some information that I think you're going to want to hear." He motioned for West to follow them. When they were sure Vicious couldn't hear them West spoke up.
"So are your friends all right?"
"They're fine, but the ship is out of commission and they can't get anywhere with the craft they have. We need someone to go and help guard them, or at least bring them back here. This place is as safe as any right now." John explained. West sighed and shook his head.
"I would like to help you guys but I can't."
"Come on captain, we've helped you so far. Don't you think you can return the favor?" Spike said.
"Yes you did help us, I'm not saying we're ungrateful. The fact is that we needed every man I had to hold off those machines. We're under strength now because we've used most of our useful ammunition. I can't afford to send anyone to help your friends, even if I did they wouldn't be much use to them. And as for bringing them here, that just might be what Skynet wants. Get all of its enemies in one place and then lob a nuke our way."
"Now that my friend, is where you are completely wrong." Spike said with a knowing smirk.
"And how can you be so sure about that?" West asked.
"We just got confirmation." John said. "All of Skynet's nuclear weapons have been destroyed."
"Say that again. I don't think I quite heard you right." West told them. Now John started to smirk.
"Skipping the minor details a computer savvy friend of ours managed to blow up what was left of Skynet's missiles." John said. There was no reason they couldn't trust the Captain but if he used Ed's name it might get around to Vicious and he might be able to figure out the Ed was on the Bebop.
"All right, lets assume for a second that Skynet's nuclear capability is gone." West said, still not fully believing it. "You said yourself that Skynet has thousands of troops, and if they're still active they'll outnumber us by at least fifty to one."
"If we go it alone yes, but with the nukes gone the government might grow enough of a spine to sent in the military." Spike said.
"That's a big if Spike?" West told him. He shook his head. "But it's also the only thing we have right now. Have you told this to anyone off-planet yet?"
"Contact hasn't been established yet." John said. "Besides, it would be better if this news came from a known member of the authorities, not some crazy terrorists."
"Don't sound too confident about that junior. By helping you we're probably all terrorists now." West said. "You are going to get that arm looked at aren't you?" He asked.
"Oh, right." John said. He had actually forgotten about his wound and that meant it couldn't be that serious but he couldn't have it become a liability on the battlefield. As John went to where they were treating the wounded Spike and West went back to the radio room.
"Anything yet?" West asked the first radio operator.
"Yes and no sir. We've established stable contact with units eight, twelve, nineteen and twenty-five. We also have had sporadic contact with units five, nine, and thirteen. We still can't raise HQ and there's nothing wrong with our equipment. It's like they're ignoring us." He paused and tilted his head, listening to something in his headphones. "Emergency message, all frequencies." He said and flicked a switch, turning on the radio's speakers. There was silence for a minute then they heard the president of Mars' voice.
"There is little doubt that very few people did not witness the pirate broadcast that recently took over most information sources. While there is no proof that the footage shown was fake what is in question is whether the information given was correct or not."
"What does he mean by that?" West asked.
"To begin with." The president continued. "The narration was given by John Connor, a known terrorist and murderer. This alone puts any credibility of the statements given in question."
Mars ISSP Headquarters
"LYING BASTARD!!!" Robert Conner shouted as he stood up. All the commanding officers had been called into the briefing room to watch the president's response to the televised battle. Robert had guessed since that the ISSP had gotten word of president's speech before it had even aired that president was going to send additional ISSP or military units to Earth and that they might be one of the divisions chosen. Instead by the second sentence the president showed he was going to smear the credibility of his nephew and anyone else involved, and he wanted everyone to see it to.
"Connor. Sit down." The chief ordered. Robert knew the chief was a Red Dragon stooge and had probably gotten all the details beforehand. "There's nothing you can do about it."
"The hell there isn't!" Robert shouted. Without warning he drew his weapon and put a bullet into the monitor where, if the president had really been sitting there, would have hit him between the eyes.
"That accomplished nothing Connor." The chief said and turned around.
"Maybe." Robert admitted, as he put his gun back. "But it's a start." He turned and stormed out of the room. The chief sighed and shook his head. Connor was a talented and respected detective but refused to fall in line with the Red Dragons, one of the few uncorrupted cops that were left. That made him more likely to do something that would get him killed.
Mac's Diner
What few patrons that were in the diner paused to watch to the president's speech on a portable TV Mac had put up in one of the corners. With everything that had been happening lately Mac thought that it would be wise to keep up with the news any way he could. He also noticed that the prospect of something exciting coming on kept the customers in longer and they bought more, and he wasn't about to mess with a good thing. Mac had his own thoughts about what was going on but he didn't feel like arguing them with a bunch of drunks. In fact there was only one person in at the moment that he could have an intelligent conversation with but since that person was ignoring the president's speech he decided to keep to himself.
"In addition." The president continued. "This video shows he is still in league with another terrorist, wanted for same crimes as he is." The screen changed to show footage of Spike firing at the Terminators with his plasma rifle and later his revolver. Mac recognized Spike and figured this was worth mentioning.
"Hey VT. How do you suppose he managed to get himself caught up in this?" He asked. Victoria Telpsicorei, better know as VT, turned in time to see Spike kick a Terminator off the edge while he was reloading his gun. She had come in too late to see the original broadcast of the battle and she had been ignoring the speech because in her book politicians rated lower then bounty hunters, and with her known animosity for bounty hunters that was saying something. She had changed her opinion about Spike and he was probably the only bounty hunter she considered a friend. Like anyone else she had heard about all the crazy stuff that had been happening on Mars and Earth and when she had heard that a group of bounty hunters were involved in the back of her mind she was almost sure Spike was involved, it was almost his style.
"Don't really know." She told Mac. "But knowing him not much, he seems to have a knack for attracting trouble."
"You don't sound that concerned." Mac noted.
"Because I don't have to be." VT answered. "Spike knows how to get into trouble, but he also knows how to get out of it. He'll be fine." Her cat Zeros meowed in agreement. Mac shrugged. If that's what VT thought there would be no changing her mind.
"Serves you right you son of a bitch!" A drunk voice called from further down the bar. Looking in the direction of the voice they saw another bounty hunter watching the TV. "Cost me a million Woolong bounty will you? You're getting just what you deserve." Apparently Mac and VT weren't the only ones who recognized Spike. The drunk bounty hunter stood, put a couple of Woolong bills on the counter, and started to walk out. VT turned back to face the bar but as she did she 'accidentally' kicked her bag, making it fall over. The drunk, oblivious to the bag that was blocking his path, tripped over it and fell flat on his face.
"Clumsy idiot." VT said in an annoyed voice. The bounty hunter growled in response.
"I'll show you who's an idiot you…" He turned over and looked up to see VT glaring down at him. "Uh, never mind. It was all my fault. Sorry." He scrambled to his feet and ran for the door. In his panic he had forgotten that the door swung in and ran right into it, knocking himself out cold.
Back on Earth Spike and West continued to listen, and even though they didn't have a picture they both knew the president meant Spike when he was talking about a 'second terrorist'.
"Hope they got my good side." Spike said, obviously not caring what was said about him.
"In this footage we can see that the others that are fighting are members of the ISSP. What we do not know is if they were in league with these criminals from the start or if they were somehow manipulated into fighting alongside them."
"Manipulated my ass!!" West yelled. "We were fighting to keep ourselves alive!!"
"In either case the fact cannot be ignored that there was confrontation between ISSP and Skynet forces, after the decision was made that there would be no hostilities."
On the Bebop everyone was watching the speech on Ed's computer.
"Well it was Skynet that started it." Faye complained.
"That doesn't matter to them Faye." Kyle said. "All that matters is that they can bury this thing and forget about it."
"I have consulted with numerous experts and they have all assured me that Skynet would only react this way in self defense."
"SELF DEFENSE!?!" Faye shouted. "Who do they think they're kidding!?!"
"Simple concept." Jet said. "Nobody that was involved is there to contradict them so whatever they say is the truth."
"This is a clear breach of the agreement that was reached with Skynet. Aggression was seen on the part of ISSP and must be dealt with." The president paused before continuing. "In response, the planetary governments have agreed to my suggestion of an immediate shutdown of the Earth astral gate. I realize that this will strand many people that were scheduled to be evacuated, but we cannot risk any reprisal Skynet may choose to inflict. It is my hope that by shutting down the Gate early and stranding those that have committed this aggression leaving, them to be dealt with at Skynet's discretion, will keep Skynet from retaliation with its nuclear weapons. This may seem harsh, but it is for the better good. Thank you."
After the president went off the air the radio Spike and West were listening to was filled with radio chatter.
"That son of a bitch!!" West shouted. "Get HQ on the line, emergency band!" He yelled at the officer manning the radio. After flipping a switch and adjusting the frequency the officer stepped back.
"Contact established sir." He said. West sat down at the radio.
"This is Captain Jason West, commander ISSP unit four, Earth sector. Priority message alpha delta nine. Skynet nuclear stockpile destroyed. I repeat, Skynet nuclear stockpile destroyed. Nuclear threat has been neutralized. Acknowledge base." There was a moment of silence before a voice was heard.
"Captain West, this is ISSP central command." The voice said. West sighed in relief, they had made contact with Mars. "Be advised radio blackout condition alpha is now in effect."
"WHAT!?!" West shouted. If whoever was on the other end was surprised he didn't show it.
"All communications with designated sector will cease immedia… What the hell do you think you're doing old man!?!?"
"Let me through you little punk!" Another voice growled.
"Don't just stand there stop him!!" A third voice shouted. Sounds of a scuffle started to filter through.
"Whoa wait don't!!" The first voice said in a panic.
CRASH BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Whatever had happened on the other end had reduced the radio to static.
"Well that was interesting." Spike remarked. West's only response was to groan and rub the bridge of his nose. "So what's condition radio, blackout, whatever it was he said?" He finally asked.
"Radio blackout condition alpha is a protocol that's used mainly during negotiations. Officers are told who to listen to and who not to, so that they can tune out any distractions. In simple terms what they just did is more or less order the rest of the solar system to ignore any transmissions coming from Earth."
"Harsh."
"That's putting it lightly." West replied. "Well, they're not the only ones that can use ISSP protocols." He said as he stood up.
"Have an idea?" Spike asked.
"Yep. One that that'll probably have those bureaucrats shitting bricks."
"I like the sound of it already." Spike said.
"Figured you would." West replied. "Where's Mary?"
"At her ship I think."
"Good, then we can do this quickly." West said and walked out. Spike followed, interested to see what West was planning. As they left the building they ran into John who was coming back to it. "So did you hear it?" West asked. John's response was to cut lose a curse that made even a veteran like West pause. "Guess so. How's the arm."
"Good to go." John answered, flexing his rebandaged arm. "It was a small tear but it wouldn't close on its own so they had to stitch it. Also found out that my ribs are in better shape then we thought. They're only bruised."
"Wait a minute. You've been fighting with damaged ribs?" West asked.
"Bruised ribs." John pointed out. "And yes I have. The pain is real easy to ignore once the adrenaline gets going." West just shrugged. "So what now?"
"With her help, we're hoping to shake stuff up a bit." West answered and nodded towards Mary, who was came out of her ship to meet them.
"It's all over the net." She said. "They've already closed the astral gate and cut off all comminations with Earth."
"We know that Mary." West replied. "We just got an earful from ISSP command on the subject."
"So what are you going to do?" She asked.
"You still got your camera?" West asked with a grin. Mary didn't need to be asked twice. In less then five minutes West was hooked up to a wireless mike and the camera was set up. Using the same datastream shortcuts Ed had showed them earlier Mary's crew again interrupted the vast majority of TV and radio broadcasts.
"This is Mary Somers again live from Earth with the latest developments in the Skynet situation." She said to the camera. "At this hour Earth has officially become a no man's land. Both communications and transport to the rest of the solar system have been cut off, leaving all those left on the planet at the mercy of the murderous supercomputer Skynet. I am speaking with Captain Jason West, commander of the ISSP unit enlisted by John Connor to help fight the Terminators. He has asked us to broadcast his response to the recent actions of the interplanetary governments. Captain."
"Thank you Mary." West said then looked into the camera. "The interplanetary governments, despite the overwhelming evidence they have been given, have chosen to believe a computer and its creators, not those who have fought and nearly died to bring them the truth. We have proof that Skynet's nuclear capabilities have been destroyed but they refused to listen. They think that by ignoring Skynet it will go away, that it will leave them alone. From what we have seen today, Skynet won't stop until its goals are achieved, and will not let a little thing like a closed astral gate stop it. They must see this, but still they take no action. If they will take no action we on Earth will have to." He took a deep breath before continuing.
"Under article twelve of the ISSP jurisdiction doctorate , I am declaring a state of martial law for the planet Earth."
On the Bebop
"Article twelve of the what?" Faye asked. Like most of the people watching the broadcast she had no idea what West was talking about.
"It's an old ISSP protocol that's never been used before." Jet answered. "It states that in the absence of any functioning government or military presence the ISSP can act as both until either one has been established. It's never been used because any situation like that that's ever come up nobody really cared."
"As a policeman my first duty is to protect the civilian population. The greatest threat to them right now is Skynet and as my first action I am ordering all ISSP units in the Earth sector to help us fight. In a few minutes there will be a message sent out over all ISSP frequencies giving our current location. All ISSP units are to report to those coordinates immediately, with as much equipment and as many weapons as they can bring. I know there are those who are questioning my actions and if they should even listen to me, and this is my reply. You listened to the government's orders and look what they did. It's time to choose who you believe, them or us."
Mars ISSP Headquarters
"Still think I'm wrong?"
"Connor, you're in enough trouble already. Don't push it!" Robert Connor was currently in the office of the Mars ISSP chief. "Three officers in the hospital, five thousand Woolongs worth of damage."
"Hey I was just trying to make a phone call. It was those three idiots that caused all the trouble."
"You were trying to make an unauthorized transmission to a planet that has been quarantined!" The chief shouted. Robert just shrugged. When he had entered the communications center that's what he was going to do but when he had heard that contact with Earth had been established he had tried to talk to whoever was on the other end but the three officers manning the equipment tried to stop him. During the ensuing fight he had knocked two of them unconscious and the third he ended up throwing into the communications equipment, inadvertently wrecking it. Those three were now recovering in a hospital and would be there for at least a week.
{Not bad for an old man.} Robert thought, remembering what that first punk had called him. He was being raked over the coals by the chief when the latest message came through, but he had stopped to listen. When Captain West had declared martial law the chief's face had turned red with anger. What West said next almost gave the chief a heart attack.
"As my first decision in this emergency situation I am naming John Connor as my second in command and as field commander."
"WHAT?!" A voice off camera said. Robert couldn't help but smile at his nephew's reaction. West ignored John and kept talking.
"He has the most experience fighting Skynet's forces and has already proven himself a capable leader."
"Stupid kids!" The chief growled. "Don't know what the hell they're doing."
"Hey! At least those 'stupid kids' are doing something instead of just sitting on their ass!" Robert snapped. Finally losing his temper the chief slammed his fist onto the table.
"That tears it Connor! If all this stuff wasn't happening right now…"
"Don't bother." Robert said as he stood up to leave. "I know where this is going so I'll beat you to the punch." He took off his badge and tossed it on the desk.
"Not exactly a good way to end a career like yours is it Robert? I'm sorry to see you leave like this." The chief asked, not sounding sorry at all.
"I'm not." Robert replied. "I should have quit years ago but I made a promise to my brother. He didn't want his son to become just another thug for the syndicates and I told him I'd look after John if anything happened. After Jim was killed I did my best to keep John on the right track, to become the kind of officer his dad would be proud of. That happened today, he's become a better officer then anyone could have asked, actually standing for what the police are supposed to be. Now that that's happened there's no reason for me to stay on." He went over to the door and opened it.
"Those are your last words on the subject?" The chief asked. Robert stopped and thought for a moment.
"No, actually. These are. Fuck you!!" He slammed the door and left, leaving the chief to get started on his stroke.
Back on Earth West was beginning to wrap up his speech.
"Finally to the interplanetary governments. I know you disapprove of our actions and our decisions. If you wish to stop us you are welcome to come and try, but I doubt that you will." West walked off camera and the camera was shut down.
"That was perfect!" Mary said after everything had been shut off.
"Thanks." West said as gave her the wireless mike back. "That should cause a bit of an upheaval with the brass. Things are going to get interesting up there."
"Down here to." John said. "Why the hell did you put me in command?!" Even though West had said that John was second in command being field commander effectively put him in charge.
"For the reasons I said. You have the most experience fighting these things. As for Spike well, no offence but you don't exactly seem like the type who leads."
"That's because I'm not." Spike answered. He could take orders when it was necessary but give them? He just wasn't cut out for that.
"But I'm no military commander." John tired to protest.
"Neither am I." West replied. "And you've already shown that you have more knowledge of fighting tactics then any of us. That makes you the best choice."
"That's great." John said, resigned to his fate. "I've been promoted to 'last hope for the human race'."
"Can't get much higher of a rank then that." Spike remarked. John groaned and shook his head.
"Captain West!!" They turned and saw the communications officer running towards them. "We broadcasted our location like you said, and we've already gotten results." He stopped to catch his breath. "We have five confirmed units heading our way, with heavy weapons and air support."
"That's good news sergeant. Keep me informed of any developments." West said.
"Yes sir." The sergeant replied and ran back to his post.
"Things are starting to look up." Spike remarked.
"Slightly." West replied. "You said Skynet's command center was north, right?" Spike nodded. "Have a look at that." He said and pointed north. John and Spike looked and on the horizon they could see that black and dark gray clouds were beginning to gather.
"There's a storm coming." Spike said.
"In more ways then one." John remarked. In the distance they could hear the roar of engines. It was beginning.